FIDM Museum Blog

Interview with Game of Thrones Costume Designer Michele Clapton

 

Game of Thrones costume designer Michele Clapton visited the FIDM Museum yesterday to discuss her GOT-themed jewelry collaboration with Yunus & Eliza. Before her Q&A panel in front of a packed house, Michele spoke with us about her final season designing for the blockbuster show, how taking a break to work on The Crown benefited her return to GOT, and of course that spectacular white coat. See the costumes in person at the Art of Television Costume Design exhibition - but hurry, the GOT costumes are leaving early! The final date to see them is Saturday, September 22.

Michele Clapton in front of her Game of Thrones costumes, currently on display in the Art of Television Costume Design exhibition until September 22.

You’re done with filming, so this is a good time to look back at your work, which is profound on this show! Is there a character you feel you have been able to develop the most sartorially?

I guess Dany, coming from almost nothing. When we were starting to catalog all of the costumes, I found her first dress. It’s just so simple. Actually I found the dress from the pilot, when it was a different Dany, which was really interesting. We’re going through warehouses full of costumes, and we’re just trying to put them all in bags now so that they can get saved. So yes Dany is the most evolved on the show.

Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) in Season 6, Episode 10 of Game of Thrones. Coronation ensemble and crown designed by Michele Clapton. Photo courtesy of HBO.

Is there a look that stands out, something that you are the most proud of accomplishing, your labor of love?

It’s hard because there are so many costumes! I think because I did decide to leave in season five – and it was a really hard decision to make – but I felt like I needed to do other stuff. And then got asked back in six to do Cersei’s coronation. I really enjoyed doing that costume because it was almost just a step back into it, and I’d had time to look back and think about it and think about the female characters. I love the fact that all the female characters are so strong. I think her coronation gown was one of my favorites.

Michele Clapton's costumes from The Crown on display in last year's Art of Television Costume Design exhibition (2017).

You mentioned leaving for a period; what do you think you gained from that time away from the show?

I think sometimes just to step back from something. My intention was not go to back – I really wanted to go and do something else, and The Crown was a great project. Stephen [Daldry, Executive Producer] had asked me personally, and I really like his work. It was just a breath of fresh air. Stepping back, I could look at the story lines, I could look at what had happened, I could look at the history of the show and actually felt that it was just right to step back in. It’s really hard to explain – it wasn’t difficult. I thought it might be difficult to pick up again but I read the script quite quickly, and I knew so instantly how Cersei should be, looking back at the arc of her story and her relationship with her father. I always try to make the clothes visually tell something – she said very little in that whole scene. I think you could tell it was based on her father’s costume…there were so many elements to it, I loved it. Then to pare down the crown into just simple strokes that to me looked like a lion still, that’s what they’re meant to be, but without that sort of solid heraldic lion that she’s usually worn. I quite liked the idea that it was a move away from that. Which then ties into Dany, the way they look at each other later on.

Body chain worn by Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) and designed by Michele Clapton with jewelers Yunus & Eliza. 

Intern Report: The Trouser Crease

Today's post was written by our 2018 Santamaura Study Grant Intern Brian Centrone. After years of being a writer and an English professor, Brian returned to school to do an M. A. in Costume Studies at New York University. His research focus has been menswear, where he has looked at the role gender, sexuality, and masculinity played in men’s eighteenth century breeches, as well as the impact nineteenth century anxieties about dress and sexuality had on the persecution of Oscar Wilde, and the establishment of the homosexual stereotype/identity. He is always looking to fill the gaps in the history of menswear—of which there are many. Brian’s interest in the developments that occurred to men’s suits during the end of the nineteenth century led him to this investigation on the origins of the trouser crease.

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Creases in center front and center back of suit pants
c. 1893
Gift of the Napa County Historical Society
S2012.1001.2B/B

Among the items in the FIDM Museum’s Study Collection is a pair of perfectly creased men’s trousers. The crease has been a part of menswear for so long, we think of it as having always been there. As with any great fashion trend—even ones so long-lived—the crease had to get its start somewhere.

Many scholars agree that the 19th century saw great changes to menswear, particularly men’s trousers. One of the most significant changes—a change that would have a lasting effect—was the inclusion of an elongated crease that ran down the front and the back of the trouser.^[1] The Museum’s suit has trousers with creases that run all the way up to the waist on both the front and the back; it was originally dated between 1880 and 1889 by staff. However, as many scholars agree, the appearance of the center front and back crease didn’t come into vogue until the 1890s with the advent of the trouser press, yet the date this press was introduced is vague. According to C. W. and P. E. Cunnington, the trouser press was invented c. 1890 onwards,^[2] with James Laver fixing the date in the mid-1890s.^[3] But I have discovered the trouser press, and the front and back crease, may have both gotten their start a lot earlier than suspected.

Trouser crease shown from the knee down
Cabinet card, 1894-1897
Gift of Steven Porterfield
SC2009.897.29

Opening Night: Art of Costume Design

Television is truly in a golden age – the quality that audiences experience on network, streaming, and digital platforms is equivalent to films playing on the big screen. Of course, the visual impact of television plays a big role in bringing new worlds to life for viewers, thanks to the hard work and creativity of Costume Designers. On Saturday night, the FIDM Museum and Television Academy put the spotlight on design for the annual Art of Outstanding Television Costume Design exhibition. Now in its 12^th year, the exhibition highlights the mastery of both new and veteran designers for television shows across multiple genres: comedy, period drama, horror, sci-fi/fantasy, Western, and more. Split into five categories, the exhibition invites visitors to fawn over old favorites (Game of Thrones and Outlander, anyone?) while discovering new content to love (why not give Schitt’s Creek or A Series of Unfortunate Events a go?)  Go behind-the-scenes of opening night to see Emmy-nominated costume designers, members of the Television Academy and Costume Designers Guild, and stars of the featured shows celebrate our latest exhibition!

Alison Brie, GLOW lead actress, and Beth Morgan, the show's Costume Designer 

Cynthia Summers, Emmy-nominated Costume Designer for A Series of Unfortunate Events

Ken Biller, Creator and Executive Director, Genius:Picasso and Sonu Mishra, the show's Emmy-nominated Costume Designer

Sharen Davis, Emmy-nominated Costume Designer for Westworld and Salvador Perez, President of the Costume Designers Guild and FIDM Alumnus

Detail of Westworld costume, designed by Sharen Davis

Avril Graham, Executive Fashion & Beauty Editor, Harper’s Bazaar

FIDM Museum Staff: Meghan Hansen, Registrar, Kevin Jones, Curator, Christina Johnson, Associate Curator and Peter Lam, Creative Director

Detail of The Alienist costume, designed by Emmy-nominee Michael Kaplan

Barbara Bundy, FIDM Museum Director and Hayma Washington, Chairman & CEO of the Television Academy

Detail of Broad City costume, designed by Staci Greenbaum

Kevan Hall, Fashion Designer and FIDM Alumnus

Laura Jean Shannon, Costume Designer for Black Lightning and Electric Dreams, and Sarah Jeanne Mgeni, Assistant Costume Designer for Black Lightning

Black Lightning, designed by Laura Jean Shannon

Michelle Cole, Costume Designer for Grown-ish

Emmy statuette inside the Art of Outstanding Television Costume Design

Alison Brie and her GLOW character Zoya the Destroya

Intern Report: Yohji Yamamoto Digital Archive

Today's post comes from our Digital Archive intern Maureen Nyhan, who spent time with the FIDM Museum this summer working on our Michel Arnaud Fashion Photography Archive. Maureen learned digital asset management skills as she scanned and categorized collections from one designer, Yohji Yamamoto, making these images available to researchers for years to come! 

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As a non-traditional student (returning to school after family) I felt so welcomed to the FIDM Museum family, where my amateur skills in both fashion and digital asset management (DAM) were graciously overlooked and I was treated as a valued member of the team from Day One.

In my search for an internship to complete my Digital Archiving Certificate at Pasadena City College, I am so glad I reached out to Meghan at the FIDM Museum. When Meghan called me back, her enthusiasm and welcoming tone caught me as a wonderful surprise. She immediately honed in on an area from my creative and academic past. I started my college career as an Art Major but ended up taking my BA in Japanese Language and Culture at SFSU and living in Japan in the 1980s. At that time, Comme des Garcons and Yohji Yamamoto’s black fashions were all the rage.

Photograph by Michel Arnaud
Yohji Yamamoto
Fall/Winter 1982
Gift of Arnaud Associates, SC2000.1095.1 AS082472

Since my task was going to be organizing and scanning runway photos from the Michel Arnaud Archive, Meghan asked if I might be interested in working with either of those two collections, and perhaps creating content for a Google Arts & Culture page on one of the designers. I was thrilled at the prospect, and honored to come on board to complete my hours. I picked Yamamoto.

Photograph by Michel Arnaud
Yohji Yamamoto
Fall/Winter 1982
Gift of Arnaud Associates, SC2000.1095.1 AS082471

Interview with Fashion Journalist Booth Moore

Booth Moore signing copies of her book American Runway at the FIDM Museum

The Hollywood Reporter journalist and author Booth Moore recently visited the FIDM Museum for a reception in honor of her new book, American Runway. The CFDA published-book looks back at the tradition of New York Fashion Week, now celebrating its 75th anniversary. After a Q&A with students, moderated by Curator Kevin Jones, Moore took a tour of Capturing the Catwalk and sat down with us to talk about fashion journalism and the process of writing American Runway. 

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Let's start at the beginning - can you tell us about your career path as a journalist?

I started writing for my high school newspaper. I had worked at some internships, and I was working at the Washington Post as an assistant for a columnist. I had a really big interest in fashion and wanted to migrate over to that, but I also really wanted to live in LA. So, I moved out to LA and had an introduction through my old boss at the Washington Post at the LA Times. I basically took the first job I could get at the LA Times and then just worked my way up to being the first fashion critic that the paper had ever had. I was there for 18 years covering all of the shows. I left and did a couple of books and freelanced, and now I work at The Hollywood Reporter. It’s fun because it’s working more closely with the entertainment industry, and also I run our style vertical online. 

Did you find that you had to fight to speak about fashion critically?

There was an influential fashion editor before me at the LA Times, Mimi Avins, and even before that Mary Lou Luther – women who went to the shows all around the world and were able to critically look at fashion coming out of Los Angeles in that context. For me, when I would review shows that took place here, the opinions that I had weren’t always popular, but I think that it was an interesting time to write about fashion here. You had this whole different ethos of style. People were very much used to thinking of LA as a denim and t-shirt and swim and surf destination, and it was really the beginning of labels like Rodarte coming up that were more about artisanal hand crafted production. That was interesting to ride the wave of.

Curator Kevin Jones and Booth Moore conducting a Q&A discussion with FIDM students

Can you talk a little bit about the transition from working at the LA Times to The Hollywood Reporter? How did your focus shift when you moved to the entertainment industry?

I think it was something that was starting to happen in fashion anyway: celebrities becoming cover stars of magazines, sitting in the front rows of shows, having their own fashion collaborations, celebrities being models and models being celebrities. There was this crossover that had already started to happen. Now I feel like fashion is its own channel of pop culture, like music or movies. There is money to be made in Hollywood off fashion, and there is a lot of interest in how to make it. That’s one of the things I keep in mind with our coverage is just all of the business implications and opportunities. I also think that the ‘Hollywoodization’ of fashion has made it more accessible in some ways and for better or for worse sometimes engages people in different ways. My review of the Met Gala red carpet was maybe the most read thing on our website the day after. That I think is the perfect collision of Hollywood and fashion.

Booth Moore and Kevin Jones inside the Capturing the Catwalk exhibition

Curating Capturing the Catwalk (Part 3)

FIDM Museum Registrar and Capturing the Catwalk Curator Meghan Hansen finishes her three-part series on the making of the exhibition. In her final post, she explores the seminal moments that made it into her "Catwalk History" slideshow.

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One feature of Capturing the Catwalk that I am particularly proud of is the slideshow, called “Catwalk History.” While I could only feature approximately 80 printed photographs in the gallery due to space constraints, I was able to incorporate a wider range of images in this presentation projected on the gallery wall. The runway shots are from all four fashion capitals -- London, Milan, New York, and Paris -- and range throughout Michel Arnaud’s career in fashion (1970-1998). 

Gallery 1 of Capturing the Catwalk, Editorial Vision & Catwalk History.

Hitting on some of the most noteworthy moments in the history of runway collections, this grouping of images tells the story of the runway’s emergence as a center of popular culture, particularly in the age of the Supermodel.

 

In my planning for this slideshow, I was selecting one image to encapsulate a single moment -- until our Creative Director Peter Lam designed the layout. The horizontal orientation of the high definition video projector worked best two photographs per slide -- giving me the chance to double the number of photos. I was thrilled! Many hours of picking and choosing images later, I had over 100 images to share with my audience.

Here are some of my favorite runway moments from the Michel Arnaud Fashion Photography Archive.

Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Christy Turlington walk the Gianni Versace runway lip-synching George Michael’s “Freedom,” Milan, Italy, Fall/Winter 1991-1992.

Sara Stockbridge appears on the Vivienne Westwood runway with her baby, London, England, Spring/Summer 1991.

Curating Capturing the Catwalk (Part 2)

In her next post on curating Capturing the Catwalk, Meghan Hansen explains how she created the impressive light box that sits at the entrance of the exhibition - and why it's an important part of runway history.

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Different people learn in different ways, so I was particularly interested in providing several different modes of experiencing Michel Arnaud’s photography.

Will Arnaud examining the lightbox at the entrance of Capturing the Catwalk.

Communicating the great scope and quantity of the Arnaud Archive was a particularly goal of mine. The nearly 200,000 color slides take up an entire wall of shelves in my office -- organized alphabetically by designer name, and by date and season within each designer section.

Michel Arnaud standing in the Registrar’s office, surrounded by his archive of 35mm slides.

With this in mind, I featured a single fashion show on a lightbox. The Givenchy haute couture collection by Alexander McQueen for Fall/Winter 1997-1998 was one of the final collections that Arnaud photographed before leaving fashion to pursue architectural, interior, and portrait photography. Upon entering the exhibition, the visitor is faced with a large lightbox custom-made for the exhibition. There are 220 photographs laid out of the box, which show the photographs Arnaud shot for this single collection (approximately twenty minutes long in person).

In order to accommodate the lightbox’s size, I actually had to cut the number of photographs in half. There were about 400 photographs in the Givenchy collection, as many as twenty for a single ensemble. I put the images in runway order and eliminated photos that were out of focus, blurred, or similar to other shots. The resulting display gives the visitor an idea of how vast the Archive is, including thousands of runway shows documented by Arnaud from 1970 to 1998. It also provides insight into the challenge of reducing the fashion news to just a few images to be featured in the season’s fashion spreads.

The lightbox also features a magnifying glass, which can be used to inspect the small “thumbnail” images on view. This is a similar experience to fashion editing in the days of 35mm film. In the evening, after attending a full day of fashion shows, photographers and editors worked at lightboxes in their hotel rooms, reviewing hundreds or even thousands of photographs. Pieces were selected for editorial shoots, accessories and trends were pinpointed, and runway photographs were selected for publication.

Arnaud examines his work on the custom-built lightbox in Capturing the Catwalk.

I encourage you all to visit Capturing the Catwalk at the FIDM Museum before it closes on July 7. Examine Alexander McQueen’s F/W 1997 collection as if you were a fashion editor. Let us know on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter which looks you would like to feature in your magazine!

Curating Capturing the Catwalk at the FIDM Museum (Part 1)

 

Capturing the Catwalk: Runway Photography from the Michel Arnaud Archive is a one-of-a-kind exhibition that brings together the worlds of fashion history, photography, and the runway. Today, exhibition curator and FIDM Museum Registrar Meghan Hansen takes you behind-the-scenes of her curatorial process - the first of a three part series. 

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Capturing the Catwalk is the first FIDM Museum exhibition to feature designer clothing alongside runway photographs of the models in matching garments. This is also the first exhibition I have curated from scholarly research of primary sources, as well as the first time many of the photos and objects have been on view to the public. It’s truly a landmark show for the FIDM Museum!

Title wall of Capturing the Catwalk. All photographs in exhibition by Michel Arnaud, gift of Arnaud Associates (SC2000.1095.1).

The FIDM Museum has been home to the Michel Arnaud Fashion Photography Archive since 2000, when it was donated as a whole by Arnaud Associates. As the photographer told me recently, he was searching for an institution that would keep the archive intact, which is exactly what we have done. In my role as Registrar for the FIDM Museum, I am heavily involved with the various digitization projects underway, including for collection documentation, publication, and the Museum’s website. As it turns out, I love “Digital Asset Management,” which is the process of organizing digital files for ease of access and preservation.

A single slide amongst thousands - Jean Paul Gaultier, Fall/Winter 1992.

In this capacity, I worked with the FIDM Library to begin digitizing the nearly 200,000 slides (color 35mm) donated by Arnaud. You can learn more about this project here. Through my work with the Library and the Museum’s curators, I delved deeper into the Arnaud Archive, uncovering many ways to learn from and utilize the collection. Then, knowing just how much work it would be, I agreed to curate an exhibition on the Archive.

Betsy Bloomingdale's haute couture evening gown by Gianfranco Ferre for Dior, Fall/Winter 1989-1990 (2006.116.13) was captured on the runway by Michel Arnaud. It is shown with its matching hand-colored croquis (SC2006.116.81). Gift of Mrs. Alfred Bloomingdale.

Thierry Mugler

Thierry Mugler has had a busy year at the FIDM Museum; his work was recently on display in Thierry Mugler: Alien to Angel on our Orange County campus, and two of his ravishing runway looks are on view in our newly-opened Los Angeles exhibition Capturing the Catwalk: Runway Photography from the Michel Arnaud Archive, open until July 7. With more of his designs on display in Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and a massive retrospective planned at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Mugler is definitely having a moment. 

(Note: all photographs from The Michel Arnaud Archive, Gift of Arnaud Associates)

Fall/Winter 1990

Thierry Mugler spent his childhood in Strausborg, the fairytale French city on the border between France and Germany, where he was born in 1948. In the shadows of the Strasbourg cathedral - which inspired his fascination with heaven, angels, and the Madonna figure - Mugler began to create worlds of his own fantasy. Comic books in particular connected with Mugler’s love of storytelling, and his childhood devotion to the medium is demonstrated clearly in his future runway shows. 

Spring/Summer 1991

Though he never had any formal training as a designer, Mugler was educated for a short time at the decorative arts school of Strausborg. But the passion that truly dominated his youth was dance. He joined as a corps member of the Opera National du Rhin ballet company at just 14 years old, and danced professionally for 6 years. His time in the ballet would influence the anatomical look of his future collections. He explained, “Dance taught me a great deal about physical bearing, the organization of a piece of clothing, the importance of the shoulders, and the rhythm and interplay of legs.” Of course, his time on the stage also inspired his zeal for theatricality, the highlight of every Mugler runway show.

Spring/Summer 1982

Now Open: Capturing the Catwalk

On Wednesday, May 23, the FIDM Museum welcomed photographer Michel Arnaud, along with his family, friends, and colleagues, to celebrate the opening of Capturing the Catwalk: Runway Photography from the Michel Arnaud Archive. The exhibition is the first to showcase his work spanning over two decades in the fashion industry; it highlights his contributions to the field (including advances in camera technology), and explores the ever-changing world of the runway - from fashion capitals and editorial visions to haute couture and supermodels. The photographs are shown alongside dress, accessories, and special collection objects from the FIDM Museum Permanent Collection.

The project began in 2000 when Arnaud generously donated his personal collection of over 180,000 slides - dating from the 1970s to the 1990s - to the FIDM Museum. The task of scanning every slide began; with the help of several dedicated volunteers and interns, our FIDM Museum Registrar and Curator of this exhibition, Meghan Hansen, was able to match the photos with our collection objects. After interviews with Arnaud and extensive research, the exhibition took shape. Capturing the Catwalk uses the rich resource of the photography archive to narrate the history and development of the runway, next to the garments that graced the stage.

The exhibition is free and open to the public from May 24 to July 7 (closed on July 4). In the coming weeks, we'll share more from our conversations with Arnaud and take you further inside the exhibition. But now, it's time for you to join us at the opening party - lights, camera runway!

Entering the exhibition with The Supers

FIDM Museum Director Barbara Bundy, Michel Arnaud, and FIDM Museum Registrar and Curator of Capturing the Catwalk Meghan Hansen 

Michel Arnaud with wife Jane Creech and son Will Arnaud