Le flâneur

"Le flâneur" is Giorgis' Christodoulou single from the homonymous new album out now in Greece and Spain and about to be released in Argentina later this Summer.

The clip was directed by Dimitris Silvestros and has the essence of a short film. The lyrics are in French as written by Marthelene Gabon, music is by the artist Giorgis Christodoulou himself and in charge of nostalgic costume direction was Greek Cinema Academy Award Winner Vassilis Barbarigos.

Pleasantly surprised to see Mariangela, Nefeli and members of "Athens Lindy Hop" dancing away "Le flâneur".

This Sunday, my Oscar goes to

This Sunday I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for Yorgos Lanthimos' "Dogtooth", nominated for Best Foreign Language Film
and Cohen Brothers' "True Grit", nominated among other for Best Costume Design - costume designer being the Greek-American Mary Zophres (Zafiropoulou).Red carpet PJs: check.
Vanilla- caramel pop corn stock: check.

RIP Theoni Vachlioti Aldredge

Have been meaning to write this since I heard the news on Friday. Theoni Vachlioti-Aldredge, born in Thessaloniki in 1932 and one of the greatest costume designers this country has ever exported, is no longer with us.

With hundreds of Broadway plays, movies and tv shows featuring her name, it would be fair to say she'll be remembered as one of last century's most important costume designers worldwide.

She's in the Theatre Hall of Fame since 1986, has received awards like TONY, BAFTA, Costume Guild Career Achievement Award, as well as an Oscar for Jack Clayton's 'The Great Gatsby' (1974). First film in her long career was Michalis Kakoyiannis' 'Stella' (1955) followed by many famous classics like 'Annie' (1982) and Ghostbusters (1984).

A true icon, may she rest in piece.
*Deni Vachlioti is Theoni Vachlioti's cousin, also a costume designer and sometimes mistakenly mentioned as her, even on imdb.

Bar comedy on Sunday

It's only a few hours before Ooh! La! La! kicks off and yesterday was a good day to pay rehearsals a visit. I tell you this bar comedy is avenging all childhood fairytales that hunted your adult life with their perfect happy endings. Sleeping Beauty waited too long for prince charming to find her and blow that kiss and now he's marrying someone else. Hell, I knew it all along, nothing good could come out of so much sleep! Snow White and Cinderella get the treatment too. Nevertheless, it all resumes to an ending that's, well, happy!
A "kinky" fairytale for grown-up kids (see wow shoes courtesy of EroSart sex shop), had to be told where they frequent around bedtime and that's Swing Bar, Gazi. It was fun watching a play at such unconventional settings. Bar comedy is a close cousin to stand-up and I can say I like the family. It's direct, casual and always a safe laugh with the bar at close distance:)
(can't get over the headspeaker, have put down a request for it come the end of the season)
Ooh! La! La! starts this Sunday, November 28th at 21:00, a good excuse to end this weekend among friends, booze and a laugh at those lucky ducks that used to get the prince by default. Here's a shout out by the cast:

Writer: Yannis Vlachoyannis
Direction: Yannis Vlachoyannis – Marios Karavasilis
Music Direction: Mion
Choreography: Marios Karavasilis
Costumes: Celebrity Skin
Photography: Fenia Lambropoulou
Hair: Mod’s Hair
Make-up: Maro Kokoni
Cast:
Marios Karavasilis
Nina Papanikolaou
Varvara Karanikola
Yannis Vlachoyannis
Narration: Iliana Emma

Carnival - Celebrity Skin

Celebrity Skin's costumes for ooh! la! la! performance are the stars of their first fashion video themed 'Carnival'. The clip, created by Nectario Karolos Papazacharias, is also a taste of CS's shoot for Fiasco magazine, soon to be released. Hit play, this is good stuff.

Ooh! la! la! rehearsal photos

Less than a week to go:
All images by Fenia Lambropoulou.

Say ooh! la! la!

Art.code and director Yannis Vlachoyannis have got a... kinky fairytale to tell! They are determined to make you say it. Ooh! la! la! is a theatre comedy for grown up kids, full of clever lines where cinderella meets girl next door, mod's hair goes wild on actors' hair colour, Celebrity Skin do what they know best: 13 conceptual costumes for stage. Starting this Sunday, November 28th and ticket is set at 12 euros including first drink. Leaving you with Fenia Lambropoulou's behind the scenes photo from poster's official shoot:
Ooh-la-la, looking forward to a good laugh.

The Island - Costumes II

The costumes of the series 'The Island' are as emotionally charged as the story itself. That's because most of them are real vintage items, existing way before the story was told. Part of what makes this new series a masterpiece, is the effort put to gather these precious bits of history that should later on be placed at a costume museum, no doubt.

All credit for the very special work goes to:
Costumes Supervisor Maria Kontodima
Costumes Designer Xanthi Kontou
Assistant Costumes Designer Marli Aleiferi
Dressers Foteini Papastefanou & Christina Tsoutsouligka Here's the huge storage space the costumes were kept at, at Elounda's school yard. An impossible giant closet, square metres of fashion history. Costume design team's work doesn't stop at getting the goods in one space. Past time series require special handling, like adding the marks of time, getting those gems realistically dirty to match the scenes' conditions yet keeping them in perfect shape for the actors. A movie is not just what you see, but also what you see if you look closer.
Costumes Designer Xanthi Kontou and Assistant Costumes Designer Marli Aleiferi were kind enough to talk about this truly unique and of international standards project:

How many costumes travelled to Crete, how much preparation was needed and how many people participated in the process?

Xanthi Kondou: We shipped 2.000 outfits which took eight months of extensive research to put together. Overall, the various stages from Costume Design to Dressing, was carried out by a team of five. All costumes were created based on tradition archives and some were selected from private collectors’ original garments.
What is special about these costumes and where should the audience focus throughout the series?

Xanthi Kondou: We aimed to achieve balance and harmony between the colours of the environment, Spinalonga and those of the clothes. We paid special attention to the conservatism of the era, something obvious in the clothes of women. We also worked our best to recreate regional style with elements of the traditional Cretan men’s attire (boots, pants, etc.)

There are many semiological details helping the viewers follow the plot, for example, the crosses around the little girls’ necks (Anna & Maria) is what links them later on to their adult years.
To what extent is costume important in such a big production and why?

Marli Aleiferi: It is vital to project the mood and overall atmosphere. You only have seconds to make the audience familiarize with the main characters and the image must communicate the role clearly and accurately in order to achieve a quick engagement.

Semiology is also crucial in order to have the viewer hooked, subconsciously getting the clues we aim to get across. The costume design department reads every line of the script just like the actors and works closely with the director for perfect close ups and powerful frames.
What is a good and what a tough moment for the costumes team during filming?

Marli Aleiferi: A tough moment is when you have to shoot a scene involving numerous extras, that have to fit the theme perfectly and at the same time have a visually balanced and realistic result. None is meant to stand out, other than the protagonists. Getting an immaculate result in limited time is challenging. So is making sure there are no goofs, i.e. if the actor wears a ring on the left finger in a scene, it has to be on the same spot during the next ones too.

A good moment is each and every time a scene is successfully complete. Thankfully we’ve had plenty and you’ll get to watch them all.
Congrats to everyone for the wonderful job, for bringing all these items to light and all 150-something characters to life through clothes. A strong reminder that attire is a big part of our herritage and should not be neglected. Next Monday, watch 'The Island', see the pictures, but read the costumes.

'The Island' - Costumes I

In a few minutes - at 21.50, on Mega Channel - the premier of 'The Island', the so talked about TV series based on Vicotria Hislop's best seller, kicks off.

Massive production for Greece, touching performances and high filming and directing standards are all known and anticipated. However, very little has been said about the amazing costume design work that dressed each character into life.

Been there, seen that, left deeply impressed. A brief interview with the wonderful people behind it has just landed, is loading and will soon be online here. After that, you'll watch each episode from a different perspective, I promise.

(Update: it's loaded, click)

Forever 80's

Eighties-disco summer party, a bicycle for her birthday, the sound of 'locomotion' and oh yes, a lit up dancefloor. If only I was so successful at doing this to my hair back in the days.
*friend's Melissa shoes.
**(volume up, hit play, do the locomotion:)

The Greek Cinema Costume Design Award goes to...

...Vassilis Barbarigos and Strella. Last Monday, May 3rd, was the Awards Ceremony of the new Hellenic Cinema Academy (our national 'Oscars'). The award for Cinema Costume design is (and should be) a big thing for anyone with an interest in clothes - way beyond temprary fashion. Congratulations to Barbarigos and wish him and Greek costume design every success in the future.
This blog had exclusively presented you the making-of of Strella's Traviata paper dress, a very complicated and award-deserving construction alone. However, I feel like mentioning Barbarigos' light piece too (seen here), now back to its original place, in his atelier's working space.
Apart from an award winning costume designer now, Vassilis Barbarigos has always been a fashion designer too, with his personal collections being sold to date at his Kleitiou str. atelier in Athens.
Last time I visited was in March and caught him working on yet another cinema costume project*, testing the effect of various types of fake blood on lace. "I know this looks good to you right now, but I think I'll go for that one which produces a realistic dry effect on camera", he had told me and for the first time I realised how much work it takes on the designer's part to get the right result in the scene. Acting is not all it takes. (*not allowed to reveal the project just yet)
Other awards for Strella:
Best Actress (Mina Orfanou),
Best Make-Up (Apollonia B. and Mary Stavrakaki),
Best Music (Michalis Delta) and
Best Set Design (Penelope Valti)

Congratulations, Strella.

Final thought: so it was the Greek Cinema Awards. So we have great talent and we reward it. So why isn't this a BIG thing on national television and press? I wish it grows.

The importance of costumes in theatre

Whilst at the rehearsal last Monday, I thought I might pop the question: Why are costumes so important for the delivery of a role? The director, protagonists and costume designers of ANNA 11/M provided answers from their own points of view:

The director, Christos Strepkos (Michani Technis) - above left: "The costumes are like a second skin on performers. The characters are visualy incomplete without them. For me, it is very important to work with costume designers that are able to communicate the message I am aiming to express accurately and realistically".

The protagonists, Natassa Dailiani, Deppy Paga & Christina Skaza - above left to right:

"The costumes are vital in performing. They complete the character and directly influence the way we play the part".

"They are our work uniform, if the stage is our 'office' they are the 'suit'. If you go to work in the wrong dress code it counts against you and your tasks".

"The costumes play the most imortant part, they are our job tools. They have to be right for the job to be done, for the character to be delivered".

The Costume Designers, Celebrity Skin (1/2 of, Dimitris Strepkos above): "Costume design is where I started my career from and I know well that the nature of the character reflects on them. The shapes, the colours are all symbols the audience has to read. You have to understand each role well and do your research. I found it particularly interesting bringing the avant garde spirit of Celebrity Skin to everyday people costumes. Adding touches of elegance to real people is what art is really after, isn't it?"