The latest posts analysed career inspirations, education and industrial details in artisanal designs, so let's wrap up today all these themes together with a brief post about a recent film - the new adaptation, directed by Kenneth Branagh, of Agatha Christie's classic Murder on the Orient Express.
The costumes for this film were created by Academy Award winning Costume Designer Alexandra Byrne, but the film also features some beautiful embroderies as seen on the outfits donned by Dame Judi Dench as Princess Natalia Dragomiroff, and Michelle Pfeiffer, starring in the role of Caroline Hubbard.
The former wears a dress with sparkling goldwork embroidery; Pfeiffer's costume is instead decorated with cross-stitch Syrian style designs.
The embroideries were created by Laura Baverstock and Hattie McGill, who graduated from the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) in 2016. Baverstock and McGill also worked on Marwan Kenzari's Conductor uniform and McGill monogrammed the handkerchief found by Poirot at the murder scene.
Baverstock is not just a specialist hand embroiderer, but also an illustrator and textile artist. After getting a BA (Hons) Degree in Hand Embroidery for Fashion, Interiors and Textile Art from The Royal School of Needlework, she worked for Alexander McQueen as an embroiderer for their A/W 2016-17 womenswear collection and was chosen for the collaborative RSN project with HBO for a large scale promotional textile/costume piece advertising the new series of Game of Thrones. Baverstock also worked on the embroideries for another film (that will be released next year), Josie Rourke's Mary Queen of Scots (with costumes by Alexandra Byrne). The artist is very much inspired by the natural world and often creates works that combine her passion for embroidery, textile designs and printwork and produces bespoke commissions of raised-work insects and butterflies.
McGill is a hand embroiderer with a foundation degree in art and textiles and a First Class Honours from The National school of Furniture.
Like Baverstock she worked for Alexander McQueen and on Game of Thrones, and embroidered the cape worn by Benedict Cumberbatch in Marvel's Dr Strange (she did twelve different versions of the design...). Though busy with cinematic projects, McGill also produces small designs and artworks inspired by flowers and insects and sells them on her Etsy shop (so you have plenty of ideas for Christmas presents there; check out the lobster purse for that quirky and Surreal Schiaparelli touch...).
The work of these embroiderers for films proves there are many different paths to follow in the fashion industry and exciting careers that can perfectly combine a passion for traditional techniques with new media. Special effects may be the stars of modern films, but the level of detail demanded by HD formats in film-making can only be achieved by genuine artisans and hand-embroidery can add a new terminology to the visual language of contemporary films.
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