Ishita kulkarni design portfolio The visit by ishita kulkarni

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contents Introduction Young Claire White Dress Tube Cocoon

Old claire mushroom collar mushroom ball/corset Delphos gown Louisa

Two women Painter Koby and Loby Bobby Butler Alfred Ill Gelled and People Movie references

“The world turned me into a whore. I shall turn the world into a brothel” - Claire (Act 3, scene 2)

These lines were a powerful source of inspiration for my process of designing this film unit. These lines suggest that claire is a strong character who has a major impact on the lives of people around her, But at the same time she had a huge emotional turmoil going on within herself which was reflective of her bitter past and thirst for revenge.

The whole town is divided in two separate worlds, one is the world of claire full of mushrooms as a disease growing over the people related to her. The second world is of the villagers of Guellen which has stopped in time, dead drab and full of cobwebs.

here mushrooms and cobwebs both have specific significance which will unfold in following pages.

There is strong essence of feminism in this story. Femfatal would be more appropriate term to be used. femfatal is closely related to spiders and their behaviour. claire resembles a lot to a fem fatal character because of her indiﬀerent behaviour toward her husbands. thus if claire be a spider who is making a web to trick her prey into it, then gelled is the ground for making her web. and Alfred ill would be her ultimate prey. thus people of Guellen shift from cob webs to mushrooms, and corner Alfred ill and he suﬀocates and dies.

Mushrooms are representing claire’s obsessive love for ill, which grew into a disease which she inflicted on all the people around her.

claire Zachanassian costume for claire is designed for two different time periods. the first costume is of an young girl of 17 and the later is of 57 year old lady. these two different time periods are essential to show the contrast and difference in the character of claire over 40 years.

Young claire This costume consist of a white dress along with a cocoon tube. the research for the white dress comprised of looking at old german post cards having photos of young girls. also included looking up clothing of the year 1910 and some vintage clothing research. Images below were my major source of research for the costume. they aided me to establish the silhouette, details and deciding the fabric to be used which played a pivotal role

German Girls clothing in 1910. - Costume and Fashion History

All That Glitters - Part 2 - Kansas Historical Society

1910s in Western fashion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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final sketch young claire

These are the in process and final sketches of young claire's costume. I wished to create an image of an innocent girl. The silhouette is inspired from 1910 young girls clothing. Also the use of lace and pattern of collar is of that period. The scallops add a very girly touch to it. The belt round the waist fastens the dress and creates a baggy shape which doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t accentuate a young girls body. This reflects her innocence. Adding of two plaits as her hair do was essential to give her a school girl look. Yet claire as a young girl was quite rebellious as she broke societal norms and went out with Alfred Ill. The see through lace at collar hints towards it. There is intricate smoking detail at the waist. Also the addition of pin tucks at the bottom edge adds to the vintage feel of the garment. The choice of fabric was soft white cotton as the dress wanted to convey a feel of being used extensively. The initial two sketches were experimental to judge which silhouette makes claire look younger. The length of the skirt made a lot of difference. As the longer the length of the skirt claire looked much older and mature which was not serving my purpose. As well the open neck suggests young age rather than closed neck.

These are the Photographs taken during the shoot of the film. Performer- Ester Mangas Fernandez Photographer-Hannah & Ishita

Cocoon Tube This cocoon tube is inspired from the works of Magcloudâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cocoon series and Ernesto Netoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work. This tube is an amalgamation of costume and set. The tube is wide enough to fit the performer and three times the performers height in length. This tube traps the young claire in the pressures of the society of being outcast. As the young claire is battling with her own emotions of being heartbroken in love and being rejected by the society she gets trapped in the cocoon and struggles to get out. But soon she gives up and lets it build around her as a natural barrier from people and society. This also depicts her struggles in life after leaving the village and how the whole experience hardens her as a human being. The tube keeps moving upward and changes colour from black to white and finally to yellow showing the time leap of 40 years. As claire tries to break out of the cocoon it makes different shapes by stretching the fabric and pulling at it which shows the effort and struggle. also due to the transparency of the fabric it gives an effect of film over the viewers vision giving it a hazed effect. The tube is made of stretch nylon fabric and is fixed in place with hoopla rings at specific intervals. The grading of colour shows the change in claire â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s character from being a poor sensitive girl in black and white, to her transformation into an old, rich, powerful, emotionally bland lady who wants justice. Yellow depicts her wealth and prosperity.

Images of tube and young claire being trapped in it.

Research images for cocoon. The interesting body shapes and the painful expression and aggressive hand gestures were my prime inspiration from these images. Also the transparency and stretch of Ernesto Netoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s creation is quite interesting reference.

Cocoon Series | MagCloud

Ernesto Neto â&#x20AC;˘ sculptural/ installation based

These are the Photographs taken during the shoot of the film. Performer- Ester Mangas Fernandez Photographer-Hannah & Ishita

Old Claire The second set of costumes for Claire are when she is 57 year old lady. In these costumes I have attempted to express claireâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s psychological aspect through her clothing. The growth of mushrooms over her body are a representation of her anger, need for revenge and her obsessive love for Alfred ill which never ended and grew over her as a disease. This disease is reflected as mushrooms and also serve as a barrier to her inner self from the rest of the world. Mushrooms grow over dead and decaying tree barks, thus claireâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s emotional blandness and surviving from several accidents suggests that she is half dead yet living for revenge from ill. She is dead within, but revenge is a strong emotion and motive of her life now.

Mushroom Collar This is the final sketched design of the Mushroom collar, which unfolds and reveals layers in a circular manner. The form of mushroom is inspired from the oyster mushrooms which grow in a crooked manner in big bunches on a tree bark. They also grow very dense in varying sizes. when they are ready to be harvested their top edges fall out flat. Thus, I stitched layers of my habutai mushrooms in varying sizes. As the size of my habutai mushroom grows bigger it automatically falls out due to its weight like that of oyster mushroom. The mushrooms are smaller at the neck and they go on increasing in size as they reach the bottom. The mushrooms are made out of habutai silk dyed in various tints and shades of yellow, brown and black. these colours give the collar a certain depth and 3D aspect. Collar forms a triangular cone very close to neck giving a bloated effect which i was trying to achieve. It also makes claire look plump and disproportionate which was the aim. in the process of story telling claire gets rid of this collar in concentric circular motion revealing her struggle to get out of the fake protection that she has grown over herself to isolate and distance herself from the rest of the word. This is her last layer to be removed after she has avenged and got justice. she is free to move on and needs no layered protection for self. The sketch is rendered using pencil colors and then giving a wash with water. The details are highlighted with help of a point pen.

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These are some in process sketches to understand and form the texture of mushrooms. this was an attempt to create an intricate texture of lines which is found under the mushrooms. for creating these i used a black point pen, for fine lines. also i used some tracing paper and print out of turkey trail mushrooms to trace and create a repeat which can be converted to print, embroidery or 3D realisation of mushroom texture. sunnier supian- blog my whatever story

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't This was the process of combining the shape I and texture of the mushrooms and collar, trying to find a link between the two. i Also working out the functioning of the collar of how it will unfold and stay put in layers like an orange peel. U/"/.l.\lA^ i,t The color rendered experiments were also helpful. Yellow is a tricky color, You cannot make it light or dark, just change the opacity '{t \b*\fiM ( of it. Thus, those sketches gave me an idea that yellow and black only would look too bright and monotone in camera and I need to \ ( add few other colors to tone down and highlight yellow and black. ,|

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These are the Photographs taken during the shoot of the film. Performer- Ester Mangas Fernandez Photographer-Hannah & Ishita

Mushroom Ball/ corset

This ball structure is worn on the top along with the mushroom collar. The circular shape of the corset gives an effect of Claire being bloated and disproportionate. Claireâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s physical appearance is very much in sync with her psychological state. she is depressed and angry which is getting stuffed in her over the years resulting in the bloating in form of a ball. The corset is hard and has this beautiful lace like feel. It fits around her shoulders loosely but goes fit through her arms so that whenever the performer moves the whole corset moves creating stunning visual effects of struggle. It starts with black color goes to white and turns to yellow. These colors show the built up of anger over the years, either since she left town until now.( black to yellow) The structure is made out of fibre glass and is rigid and obstructs the free movement of the body. Thus obstructs moving forward suggesting that claire is still stuck in the moment of revenge.It requires effort to get out of the ball, which results in dramatic struggle on screen of demolishing one personality and getting into another. When claire gets the corset off, she is done with her emotional business with ill, taken her revenge and is free to move and go ahead in life.

Research for Mushroom ball This design is inspired from the stink horn mushroom. This mushroom has a beautiful net like structure which falls out. It gives a feeling of lace, transparency, see through, rigid and stiff. The shape is very circular like that of a half globe. The concept of claire being bloated and disproportionate was achieved by giving her this bloated corset which is very rigid and stiff. This also breaks the usual silhouette of human figure, resulting in a voluptuous figure.

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These are the Photographs taken during the shoot of the film. Performer- Ester Mangas Fernandez Photographer-Hannah & Ishita

Finishes Image of Mushroom corset/ball

Delphos Gown These are the final sketches of the delphos gown which was made by Mariano Fortuny. As Fortuny used a lot of glass beads in his dresses, I used small beads and pearls in form of jewellery at the neckline in front and back to make the gown look rich, elegant and expensive. The dress is made of fine habutai silk with dip dyed yellow edges. The colour yellow expresses claire;s wealth. This silhouette gives a feel of freedom and lightness. This creates the contrast from the collar and mushroom ball which made claire rigid and difficult to move. The freedom of movement in this costume suggest that she is now free of her revenge and no more stuck in emotional business in Guellen. This marks the attainment of justice and relieving of her anger and obsessive love for ill. Thus the mushrooms wilt of and claire is now emotionally stable.

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Research for Delphos Gown The delphos gown gown was made by a designer called Mariano Fortuny. Its a beautiful pleated floor length gown. It flows beautifully due to the use of fine silk. The pleating manner also resembles the texture of the mushrooms. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a classic silhouette and comes from the time period of 1920 to 1950 which is the time frame of the text. These gowns were worn by women who were bold, rich and classy in their choices in life. Many famous artists and royals used to have delphos in their wardrobes and it was considered as a priviledge to own one. The research included online images as well as having look at the real delphos in the V&A archive at Blithely house.The visit at V&A was very fruitful as it gave an insight into the construction of the garment and also gave a fair idea about the kind of fabric used, the finishing of neckline and fitness of the pleats.

V&A Archive. Original Delphos dress Visited on Friday 8th may 2015

These are the Photographs taken during the shoot of the film. Performer- Ester Mangas Fernandez Photographer-Hannah & Ishita

Louisa Louisa is a young care free girl in small town of guellen. She is the topic of discussion due to her choice of clothing, which is short skirts that flaunt her body. Thus I looked up the Fashion of the year 1950â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s which included a lot of skirts which were knee length and quite flattering. But as she is wearing something shorter, I thought of transforming her costume into a much revealing dress. She wears a tight skirt which fits around her thighs and then falls down in pleats in a sheer fabric up till her knees. On the top she is wearing a piece of Lingerie which is clubbed with a sheer blouse and bell sleeves. she resembles the claire 40 years ago. Even Louisa is talked about in the same manner as Claire was 40 years ago. This shows that not much had changed over 40 years of time. Over her costume there are cobwebs stuck which are due to drab, dead town of Guellen. Later when she gets influenced by claire her costume gets influenced with yellow and mushrooms showing her change in alliance.

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costume influenced by claire

Two Women The costume for two women who come to buy things at Alfred Illâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shop would be very simple and they would be dressed according to societal norms. Thus looked up photos by August Sanders of women in the year 1910. These images of women in long skirt with full sleeves Tops and occasionally aprons around their waist, reflected the image of an ordinary household lady. The skirts and tops will be of cotton. Pre-dominantly plain sober colours and rarely checkered or printed. They have cob webs over their costume due to their lifestyle in drab town of gelled. But as they change their alliance with claire their costumes get infused with yellow and hints of mushrooms over their skirts.

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Painter The painter would be a young man in Guellen. He would have a quirky sense of dressing due to his exposure to arts. He would mix and match weird clothes and carry them off confidently. Yet after all this his clothes won't be well kept because of shortage of money and lack of job in Guellen. He has cob webs on his brush and on his painting board initially. All dressed in black and white colors. But as he inclines towards the riches and comforts offered by claire his costume has a dash of yellow and sprouting mushrooms. Also his paintings start having a bold use of yellow and there are mushrooms all over his Canvas.

Quirky hair do and a cap

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Koby and Loby These both are the gay blind couple who have faced wrath of claire. Their behaviour is silly and very child like. They are usually found holding hands and going around town. Both of them have a very electric sense of dressing which has a lot of yellow and mushrooms in it. They like to dress similar, thus they wear alternate prints on top and bottom to complement each other. 40 years ago they had given false statements in court about claire which resulted in her leaving the town. To punish them for their deed claire blinded them. Thus, they have yellow mushrooms growing over their eyes, hands entwined with mushrooms and yellowness in clothes. It is claireâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s anger and revenge that reflects in their clothing in form of mushrooms. Also they don't have much sense wether their shoes are right or wrong or their shoe laces are tied, they cannot see.Thus, a little amount of shabbiness in their clothing.

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Bobby (Butler) Bobby is quite old, yet he is working for claire out of compulsion. 40 years ago he was a justice in the court of Guellen. He had passed the judgement against claire and thus she had to leave the town. Now, she has forced him to work as her butler. He wears the uniform code of a Butler i.e. a waist coat, formal shirt, bow tie , trousers and formal shoes. But on top of that he is wearing a justice robe which is fairly long and heavy. He keeps on dragging it all the way, every where while he is working. The robe is yellow from bottom edge and filled with vigorous growth of mushroom. His hands have mushrooms growing. This is the reflection that he is still carrying the burden of the judgement he passed 40 years ago. And is painfully tagging it along everywhere and being punished. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not only physical agony but also emotional turmoil of working as butler for claire.

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Alfred Ill He is a ordinary citizen of Guellen. He is poor and is ageing and growing old. In his young age he used to be charming and handsome. he still looks handsome but has started looking drab and old. He has a tummy ponch, receding hair line. He is wearing an old shirt and only one intact jacket that he posses. But he is covered with a considerable amount of cob webs. Those cobwebs g on increasing and it results in him suffocating and death. All the villagers shift their sides to claire in lust of money and corner ill and pile all cobwebs on him.

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