an interview with costumedesigner Ngila Dickson

[Hobbit]

I've found an interesting (4 page) interview with Ngila Dickson on the net (she designed lotsa clothes and costumes for the three LotR movies)
Lotsa info on creating the costumes: from designing and chosing fabrics to fitting and such and lotsa other stuff in between. Pretty nice interview if you are interested in costumes
(I hope you people haven't seen it before)

http://www.eonline.com/Features/Specials/Lordrings/Location/000601.html

[Arwen of Imladris]

the interview was cool :)

[Winyaél Greenleaf]

Great article! :thumbs: Maybe I'll post some interesting and important quotes from it for peepz who are too lazy to read the whole article. lol

Dickson's a long-time collaborator with director Peter Jackson. More recently, she handled the New Zealand-based TV shows Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules.
Hmm... is there some similarity between the back scenes stuff of Xena and LotR? jasmine watson (jeweller) designed jewellery for both films too. (can't recall if she did Hercs)


Regarding Hobbit clothes:
It's a look inspired by 18th-century England, "but with quirks," she says. "We wanted to make them seem not quite right, so they would jar the eye."
So, trouser legs and sleeves are too short, buttons are slightly misplaced, and collars are a little too big--like when children try on adult clothing. "Strangely, it all seemed to work when they put on their huge Hobbit feet," Dickson says.


elvish clothes (her greatest challenge):
The original concept of glittery elves looked too Disney, so Jackson suggested a more medieval look. That gave Dickson inspiration to make the Elven fabrics look antique.
Collars and bodices are made from Indian silk brocade, "which we wash, bleach, dye, sandpaper and do all the things you're not supposed to do with brocade," Dickson explains. Washing brings up the metallic wire, giving the fabric both texture and a metallic gleam.
Another Elf must-have fabric is silk velvet, which has a luxurious drape and sheen. "My team hates working with it, as it bruises, but it looks amazing." Dickson's crew uses art-nouveau techniques like acid-etching leaf and floral designs onto the velvet. It's then hand-embroidered and edged with silk or metallic thread.

Sleeves are made in leaf shapes, which coil around the actors' arms. Rivendell Elves are more luxuriously fitted in rich golds, scarlets and greens, while wood Elves wear brown woolen cloths designed to look like tree barks.


Arwen's frocks, for instance, were originally designed as warrior woman ready-to-wear for the horse-riding Elf chick on the move. "But Peter wanted something more feminine," Dickson says.

Sheesh... I can't imagine arwen in warrior outfit....


She also salutes Viggo Mortensen, "who has such integrity for his role, and has just made his costume live, wear and smell." Mortensen reputedly wears his costume horseback riding off the set, and he offered to wash and repair it himself so he could literally grow into it.

Hmm... wash... Aragorn actually wears clean clothes? lol Viggo is real cool :thumbs:

Gandalf:
McKellen also had input into his costume for his rebirthing as Gandalf the White. "He wanted a costume that conveyed Gandalf's regained physical prowess and fighting ability," Dickson explains. The resulting gown is superhero meets Sporty Spice--a sensible ankle-length gown and robe in heavy-weave ivory cotton embroidered with gold thread.

Each Hobbit has shirts for each stage of their three-film journey--clean and tidy in Hobbiton, ragged and muddy on Mount Doom and plenty of variations in between. A shirt can begin fresh, then get retired to a grubbier stage later on.

The crew really puts in lots of details in the costumes...

And there are other complications:
Each character needs a set of five shirts for each scene--one each for the actor, his body double, stunt double, scale double (for the Little People) and horse double.

Because the Hobbit actors are still growing (Elijah Wood is 19 and Dominic Monaghan is 23) and doing so much physical training and fighting, their shirts need to be remodeled periodically to keep up with their expanding muscles. Sigh...


She(dickson) explains that they use different weaves of cloth for big and miniature outfits, but each costume must be printed, buttoned and cut exactly to scale.

cheers for the remarkable crew! :hooray:

[Lessa]

It is truly fantasic the amount of thought and effort that went into making these wonderful costumes. When you think about it most of the detail in them isn't seen by the audience (unless they look at the extras on the DVD) but it adds to the overall look of the final images we see.

Lessa

[Cuiel Rilwen]

She truly is remarcable....and I loved the interview! What a great number of hobbit- shirts...I'm totally amazed!

[Tar-Vanimelde]

Thanks for the distilled version, Win. notworthy I'll have to read the whole thing later, you've sparked my interest. I was amazed by all the costumes in LotR, they were fantastic.