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A Twist on Rococo Style
The Introduction to Theatre Design project on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing was probably the most nerve-wracking by far, but mostly because it was my first legitimate group project (with Tom Stagnitta and Livia Crespo) and I didn’t want to let anyone down. I was assigned costumes again, which I was very pleased about because the other options were set design and lighting. Set would be my second option, but lighting? I’d rather stick to costume design, thank you very much!
When I think of Shakespeare plays, I automatically think of Elizabethan style costume. This was my group’s first idea in terms of an overall theme for our design. But, when reading this play, it had a more airy quality than Elizabethan would allow for. Livia found an amazing picture while researching lighting: Fragonard’s The Meeting. I was so glad she brought this to our attention because Fragonard was one of my favorite artists when studying the Rococo era in Art History with Ms. Emily Man in high school. Once we all saw the painting, we immediately agreed on a Rococo theme. Easy, right? Not so fast! We weren’t going to make it that simple for ourselves. Instead of setting the play in the mid-1700s, we would pick a more modern era with Rococo inspired costumes and set. Not as easy as it might sound.
Costume #1: Hero in her wedding gown, failed wedding scene
As you will see with all of the characters, I’ve given each of them a strong color scheme. For Hero, I chose yellows and oranges, especially for the wedding dress, because of a quote in the play: “Give not this rotten orange to your friend” (4.1.27). This line, spoken by Claudio, the bridegroom, refers to the rumor that Hero has been unchaste. Though this rumor is quite false, using this color, also a color of jealousy throughout the play, not only brings more attention to Hero in this scene, but also brings forth the fact of her fiancé’s constant jealousy. As you can tell, the dress is not what you would see a woman of the 18th century wearing, but there are aspects of it that harken back to that period. The bow, buttons, sleeves, shoes, volumized hair, and full train all are taken from Rococo-era research. Often times, dresses presented underskirts as well, and this is something I used to make the dress a little more modern – shortening the underskirt.
Costume #2: Beatrice’s dress during the failed wedding
Beatrice’s color palette is purple. I find purple a very dramatic color, and Beatrice definitely doesn’t fail when it comes to being dramatic and in your face. In the play there were often many mentions of the carduus benedictus, the thistle plant. Though the thistle comes in many different colors, I think the most popular is purple. I also liked this mention of the plant because it was an obvious poke at the sexual tension between Beatrice and Benedick (bendictus). You will see similar Rococo motifs in this costume as well – the collar, buttons, bow, sleeves, and underskirt. If it isn’t noticeable, I’d like to point out the fact that the underskirt would be a “bubble skirt,” an idea that I took from Fragonard’s The Swing. In the painting, the girl’s dress is extremely voluminous and bubbly, and I wanted to include this in a subtle way. The shoe is also Rococo inspired. It’s not rare to see someone in today’s day and age wear a hat to a wedding, and it was definitely not rare to see a woman back then with her head covered. I thought this was a perfect way to bring both together.
Costume #3: Beatrice at the Masquerade Ball
Again, the purple color palette is displayed in all of Beatrice’s costumes. Some added motifs that haven’t been in the previous two costumes are the fur collar, which I took from a piece of research, the head piece, which I tried to make look like a subtle version of one of the crazy headpieces worn back in the mid-1700s, and the fan. I would particularly like to point out the fan. I could have easily just given Beatrice an ordinary mask to hold, but while researching masquerade balls of the 18th century, I found images of fans with faces on them. I thought this was extremely interesting and would be something unexpected to add.
Costume #4: Benedick’s costume
Professor Healey always says that it is more difficult to design costumes for men. I agree! It’s also harder to shop for guys too. Men’s clothing is a lot more subtle than women’s clothing, and can be a lot more boring. My problem arose here because, again, I was not going for a Rococo costume, but a Rococo inspired one. Men today wouldn’t wear many of the clothes and designs that they would have back in the 18th century, so I had to find some kind of balance between the old and the modern. I don’t think I was as successful with this costume as I was with the previous three. As you can see, the color palette for Benedick is blue. I made sure to keep the blue a pale or pastel tone to heighten the airy aura that comes along with the Rococo era. I attempted to make his costume fitted, but not too fitted, to resemble something older. The cravat is a definite poke back at the 18th century. In the play, this character has just come home from war, but he isn’t one of your average foot soldiers. Because of this, I didn’t want to dress him up like an ordinary man, but with a little bit of “snazz.”
Costume #5: Dogberry the Constable
On my first reading of the play, I didn’t catch the fact that Shakespeare made Dogberry the comic relief character. He can be described as an ordinary guy, maybe a little less than ordinary even, who takes it upon himself to create a neighborhood watch with other less than ordinary men. He often tries to act more than he is by using elaborate words, but because he’s a little less than ordinary, he misses the mark. After going back to read some of his lines, the malapropisms that Shakespeare uses can be fairly humorous. So, for this character, I decided to give him an heir of confidence with a look of homelessness, not that he’s homeless or anything! I took the idea of a big puffy raincoat, and made it look almost like a military jacket of sorts, dirtying it where epaulets might have been if he truly was an officer. He wears a lopsided beanie, giving him more of that disheveled and humorous look. His color palette is green, giving him a more earthy feel than the other characters of higher status. I also gave him red hair to increase his comedic factor – everyone loves a ginger!
Overall, I’d like to think I was successful in bringing in Rococo ideas and making them more modern. I mean, I think I would wear those dresses I designed! Wouldn’t you? If you’d like to see the research I’ve done to get these costumes, click on the link to my PowerPoint presentation above (file download).
Marina B. Nebro
Comments
Comment from marinanebro - November 20, 2012 at 4:18 PM
Thank you so much!