Costumes, High Fashion and Poetry; the design journey for Breath of Stars — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

Instructions

Student presentations must have a faculty sponsor.

Abstracts must include a title and a description of the research, scholarship, or creative work. The description should be 150-225 words in length and constructed in a format or style appropriate for the presenter’s discipline.

The following points should be addressed within the selected format or style for the abstract:

A clear statement of the problem or question you pursued, or the scholarly goal or creative theme achieved in your work.
A brief comment about the significance or uniqueness of the work.
A clear description of the methods used to achieve the purpose or goals for the work.
A statement of the conclusions, results, outcomes, or recommendations, or if the work is still in progress, the results you expect to report at the event.

Presenter photographs should be head and shoulder shots comparable to passport photos.

Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

Jun Wang
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Nora Nickels
Andrew Pustina
James Ripley

Costumes, High Fashion and Poetry; the design journey for Breath of Stars

Name: Kim Instenes
Department: Fine Arts
Type of research: Independent research

Abstract

This presentation will show the design process involved with the costumes for Carthage Theatre's production of The Breath of Stars, written for us by Caridad Svich. The play is really an epic poem about relationships; our relationship with the world, our relationships with each other, our relationship with technology and our future concerning all of those. It is brimming with imagery and dripping with rhetoric. The challenge is how to visually present the words the playwright has eloquently put to paper. How do I help the audience understand who the characters are and how they fit in the story? I, with my fellow designers, decided to embrace the modern qualities of the writing and the technology. The result is, for the costumes, a denim world which can be high fashion or poverty, work or casual, timely or timeless, gender driven or androgynous. By choosing denim, I believe the audience can relate to the characters and see themselves in the scenarios. I also chose to incorporate the poetry literally into the costumes by writing the lines on the clothes. This brings the importance of the words directly to the forefront, creating our own Breath of Stars "fashion".

Poster file