Celluloid Wrappers: Holidays 2000

Folks Dressed Up Like Eskimos ...

By Eleanor M. Farrell

... or red-nosed reindeers, Nutcracker fairies, Mrs. Cratchit or any of the other seasonal opportunities for rabid costumers. Everybody knows it's December again, and once you've gotten into the holiday spirit, it's easy to get so busy with parties, open houses, plays, concerts and other festivities that shopping for friends and family gets left until the last minute. Never fear: there's an abundance of choices for the costumers on your list this year, in a variety of categories.

Calendars

	Always useful, never a shortage. Offerings for 2001 include calendars celebrating film classics The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind, while new films like The X-Men also get some wall coverage.
	As a more imaginative approach for wall coverings, I recommend Wallace & Gromit at the Movies (Portal, $12.95), in which the clay characters re-create such film classics as Bride of Frankenstein, Cleopatra and The Sound of Music. Great inspiration for those morning trips to the bathroom! A new entry in the science fiction category, the 2001 Farscape calendar (Slow Dazzle, $12.95) showcases some of the wonderful costuming seen in this increasingly popular television series.

Books

Here are a few new titles to tantalize:

	Shakespeare in the Movies : From the Silent Era to Shakespeare in Love (Literary Artist's Representatives) by Douglas C. Brode, Oxford University Press, April 2000. ISBN 0195139585, hc, 272 pp., $25.		The Patriot: The Official Companion by Suzanne Fritz and Rachel Aberly. Carlton Books, July 2000, ISBN 1842220764, tp, 96 pp., $19.95. Costume coverage in this movie tie-in is surprisingly disappointing considering the designer (Deborah Lynn Scott) and the filmmakers' access to Smithsonian resources. Some nice photos, though.
	Gladiator: The Making of the Ridley Scott Epic by John Logan, David Franzoni, Ridley Scott. Newmarket Press, November 2000, ISBN 1557044287, hc, 166 pp., $32.95. (Also available in tp edition.)		Titus: The Illustrated Screenplay by Julie Taymor. Newmarket Press, April 2000, ISBN 1557044368, hc, 192 pp., $59.95. Director Julie Taymor details her production of this lavish and original Shakespearean film adaptation. Not enough costume coverage but still of interest.

Video

Costumers will want to invest in a DVD player, if only for the wonderful extras found with this video format. For example, the Shakespeare in Love DVD includes a featurette on the Oscar-winning costumes, with an interview with designer Sandy Powell. Besides, DVD offers much better still, zoom, and slow motion capabilities, so you can really check out that period detailing. 1999 films of costume interest available on video (VHS or DVD) include Topsy Turvy (last year's costume design Oscar winner), Titus, and Galaxy Quest, while more recent releases The Patriot and Gladiator have just been made available, both epics with multitudinous extra features. From the TV screen, the first four episodes of the BBC Napoleonic War-era Sharpe series are now available in DVD format and well worth a look.

Here are some individual DVD links for info and purchasing:


Galaxy Quest Buy DVD	Gladiator Buy DVD	The Patriot Buy DVD	Shakespeare in Love Buy DVD	Sharpe's Rifles Buy DVD	Titus Buy DVD	Topsy Turvy Buy DVD	The X-Men Buy DVD

Patterns

Simplicity, Butterick, McCalls and Vogue have all been releasing an exciting assortment of vintage, fantasy, historical, movie-themed, and even Gothic-inspired patterns. Stocks of some of these may be depleted after Halloween but sales -- with pattern prices as low as 99 cents -- are frequent in the larger fabric stores. An assortment of patterns would make a unique gift for someone who sews (or wants to learn how)!

And so on ...

Noted in recent issues of Movieline and Premiere magazine, jewelry pieces inspired by and seen in recent films are HOT. From faux-Roman Empire armbands to 1920s necklaces, vintage baubles make great stocking stuffers. So do tree ornaments. We've got a science fiction/fantasy theme developing for our tree (adding new Borg cube, '50s rocket ship and Xena chakram, hoping for a light-up Moya ornament ...) but I'm also seeing lots of sparkly shoes, hats and Victorian-style cut-outs in shops, not to mention figures of Disney villains, The Wizard of Oz characters, and variously-clad Barbie miniatures. And what a great use for leftover trims, beads and ribbon: make your own ornaments using your friends' favorite costume color combinations.

Local newspaper listings will be full of craft fairs from now until Christmas; also check web event listings for your area. Vintage expos, gem and jewelry shows, flea markets and other seasonal shopping opportunities are great places to find that perfect bauble for anyone who likes to shine.

A less film-intense print version of this article appears in the December 2000 issue of The Costumer's Scribe, newsletter of the Greater Bay Area Costumer's Guild.

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