The SHOW

William Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy from 1598 in which Don Pedro and his friends visit Messina and become embroiled in a series of romantic complications.

Designed as a film adaptation. As one of Shakespeares’ happier portrayals of life and love, I wish to give it a full cinematic approach that will balance the laughter with visual beauty - a sublime combination.

The COSTUMES

An opulence of fabrics, prints, textures, and accouterments that are indicative of turn of 16th century Italy, and with a color palette that compliments the absurdity that saturates the play itself. Paintings & drawings from the era serve as the primary inspiration.

Historically, the political and economic backdrop of 1503 is my ideal stage for this drama. Having just defeated France’s Louis XII and re-conquered Naples, the Spanish forces would have retreated for a well-earned respite at one of their other occupied kingdoms - such as Sicily. While Ferdinand II of Aragon was technically a King and not a prince, it is a subtle distinction that still lends itself to the telling of this story. 

Other perks of this time period that appeal to my design aesthetic include the fact that menswear had only just begun to acquire the wide, boxy, and pumpkin-like shapes that would follow throughout the century, while the womenswear resided in a happy balance of decoration and function. It lacks the grossness of grandeur that the renaissance evolves into, and, allows for the complexity of Shakespeare’s storytelling to shine with just the right amount of ridiculousness and romanticism.