The concept of identity is complex yet fluid. Examined from different perspectives, but mainly in social and developmental psychology and in philosophical and cultural studies, identity is considered as something deeply ingrained in the individual or linked with the individual construction of the self, but it also refers to other categorizations, going from national identity to gender identity.
In films, while screenwriters create highly polished characters, actors give them life on the screen, but costumes and accessories are quintessential to achieve credibility and help viewers to willingly suspend their disbelief and immerse themselves in the story. Cinema fans and costume design students who are intrigued by the creation of credible identities on the big screen, may be happy to hear that there is a new addition at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles - an Identity Gallery.
The largest museum in the United States devoted to the arts, sciences, and artists of moviemaking, the Academy Museum features 50,000 square feet of exhibition spaces, two state-of-the-art theaters and the Shirley Temple Education Studio.
Part of the ever-evolving "Stories of Cinema" core exhibition that constantly changes to include more movies, artists, eras and genres, the "Identity" gallery features original costumes, wigs, concept art, and other materials to explore the creation of characters.
The "Makeup and Hairstyling" section explores the science of hair and makeup as well as the creators behind some of the most memorable looks in cinema history. Visitors get a glimpse of working tools and materials, including plaster life casts, prosthetics, wigs and makeup kits like the one used by makeup artist William Tuttle.
The gallery also includes the tattoo work of make-up artist Ken Diaz on movies such as "Red Dragon" (2002) and "Black Panther" (2018), wigs by hair stylist Yolanda Toussieng from "Beetlejuice" (1988) and "Mrs. Doubtfire" (1993), and wigs and makeup by Nadia Stacey for "The Favourite" (2018).
The gallery offers in-depth case studies of sketches from a variety of films, plus forty costumes donned by Elizabeth Taylor in "A Place in the Sun" (1951) designed by Edith Head; Richard Pryor as Charlie Snow in "The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings" (1973), designed by Bernard Johnson, and David Bowie in "Labyrinth" (1986), designed by Brian Froud and Ellis Flyte.
The event includes also more recent designs, like the costumes worn by Julia Roberts in "Mirror Mirror" (2012), designed by Eiko Ishioka; Olivia Coleman as Queen Anne in "The Favourite" (2018), designed by Sandy Powell; Tilda Swinton as Madame Blanc in "Suspiria" (2018) designed by Giulia Piersanti; Taron Egerton, as Elton John, in the film "Rocketman" (2019), plus the floral explosion donned by actress Florence Pugh in "Midsommar" (2019), and costumes by designer Ann Roth from "Mamma Mia!" (2008) and "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" (2020).
One of the absolute highlights of the gallery is the headdress worn by Greta Garbo and designed by Adrian in "Mata Hari" (1931), the MGM film directed by George Fitzmaurice.
In the Orientalist Art Deco movie, Garbo as Mata Hari performs an exotic dance wearing a long sequinned gown and a jeweled headdress, topped with a multitiered spiked ornament and with large pendant resting on her forehead. Garbo wasn't actually that graceful in this scene that looks at times awkward for its choreography (but the headdresses and gowns in the films are spectacular...). Yet, as they say, quite often the worst pictures get the best receptions and, in this case, the film, and Garbo's headdress, became iconic: Andy Warhol even dedicated to Garbo in Mata Hari's garb one of his best-known screenprints in colours with diamond dust - "The Star," part of his 1981 "Myths" collection.
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