Inside the Costumer’s Mind–Richard III

About a month ago I had a brief sit down with my friend  and costume designer Kat Brinkely Clowes regarding the costume approach for Richard III.  Kat is an accomplished historical costumer, but has a distinct eye for translating it to a modern aesthetic.

After a brief run down of the practicalities of the show– it is a history play we’re doing, but one we aren’t setting  inside an explicit time frame; we’re having a number of women play traditionally male roles; the set design is a very non-literal unit; we want something that looks immediately “traditional” but that won’t look entirely foreign to the modern eye — we decided on a traditionally Elizabethan silhouette and style, but with a variety of contemporary fabrics, textures, and colors.  As Kat likes to say, “. . . a period style that wouldn’t look entirely out of place in some of the couture runway shows this year.”

We’re emphasizing the Elizabethan look because we want to focus on SHAKESPEARE’S Richard III and the story he tells about the fight against tyranny, not the historical Richard III.  So staying away from most of the medieval era clothing was important.

The next step for Kat was to get a look at the majority of the cast, begin sketching, and go on the prowl for the best sample fabric swatches she could find– at a modest price!  In her sketches you can see the Elizabethan look influenced by the Shekhar Kapur films starring Cate Blanchett.  But where Kat does her job so brilliantly is in her fabric choices.  Using a variety of colors and textures, she’ll assemble an amazing array of garments, each of which will begin to capture the character’s function and personality in the show.

Here is what Kat has to say about some of her choices:

I’ve played a bit with light and dark and colors that inspire.  Of course the princes are in lighter, purer colors, the King is in greys with gold and silver to display a sort of bland-sickly feeling and the queen matches in a much more flashy, overdone manner.  Lady Anne is in a modern blue/grey print that’s fabulous in person while Princess Elizabeth, like the princes, is in a light, pastel yellow with my silk embroidered forepart.  I put a lot of thought into the murderesses, wanting to give the impression of a smoldering fire while simulatenously choosing colors that represented decay to me.

The nobles are in prints/weaves that have a lot of geometry, representing the complexity of their positions in all of this.  Buckingham will have a skirt of a burgandy/gold print that reminds me of the Elizabethan weaves of the era while having a strange, almost stucco way about it (it’s my favorite fabric of the show).

In the coming weeks, Kat and her crew will be making mockups of the principle pieces for initial fittings and then they’ll get to work building the massive amounts of doublets, bodices, skirts, and slops (Elizabethan pants) needed to pull of this grand fictional court.  We’ll definitely keep you updated!

Heather Parish
Director, Richard III