Designer Profile: Julie Taymor

Designer Profile: Julie Taymor


- American director of theatre opera and film.
-earned two tony awards out of four nominations alongside the drama desk for outstanding costume design, an Emmy award and Academy award.
-Widely known for directing the stage musical, the Lion King.
-film work... Frida (2002/0 and titus ( 1999).
-Worked on the Tempest, 2010,William Shakespeare adaptation.
-Puppetry is just one of her talents.
-Spiderman: turn off the dark.

The New York Times described her as being one of the most innovative theatrical directors and designers. And that she is known for her ability to transform theatrical productions through the use of masks and puppetry.This is a skill that she learnt from traveling to Japan to study pre-bunraku puppetry, to learn about the experimental methods of Japenese puppetry and visual orientated theatre.Personally, i really like the work of Taymor's in the tempest as it is very detailed and heavily textured fabrics which are very similar to that of colleen Atwood's. I also like the heavily carved and authentic puppetry/masks and costumes used in the lion king as they use authentic fabrics but original interpretations of the characters. As they do not create a hugely animal orientated features,e.g fur,generic characteristics,animal prints.

V&A

                       Lion King Costumes

Costume for Scar,Mustafa's evil brother.

The costume is very assymetric which i think could suggest his both dangerous and comic personality. It is also very angular and has very proturding shapes which i think further suggest a dangerous side to the character, aswell as potentially being a metaphor for the bony silhouette of a  predator on the prowl for prey, with the long slow movements.I like the authenticity of the costume, with very rich orange and brown colours suggesting a african tribe scheme to the costume.Moreover i lke thr orginiality and modern twist of the costumes, through using masks to portray an animal rather than using furs and obvious animal assosiated shapes and designs.Designed by Julia Taymor.

                                            


                               Costume for sarabi, Mustafas mate and simba's mother.
It is evident, in contrast to scar's costume that the much freer fabric suggests a much carmer and kinder nature to this character.Again it is authenthic, using african/asian style clothes to create a elegant costume to fit the character. Moreover i like that the fabric will exagerate movements on stage rather than onbstructing them.
                                                    Designed by Julia Taymor

Christian Tagliavini

 
                                     Personal Interest- Christian Taglianvini








     

Crhistian Taglianvini is a graphic designer/photographer whos work really inspired me. His work is insightful as it has a unique, flatness to it whilst also creating a perception of character and colour experimentation. I like the exaggerated flat shapes as it looks like oragami but in a very flat, toneless way. This is interesting as it contrasts to what designers usually focus on in their work as3D is very important in fashion and textiles,working from initial research to create realistic drawings to inspire garments or surface pattern.This method is something that i would like to explore to inspire new shapes and imagery to my work.I think i could incorpurate it into my work by photocopying exisiting work and uses fold to create shapes to put onto figures as i feel it would develope and push my project further.