Silver Performing Arts, Stage, Style and Scenery Design · 2020
The Armor Costume for a Character
by Samantha Chijona Garcia and Vladimir Cuenca
- A' Design Award 2020 Silver Winner in Performing Arts, Stage, Style and Scenery Design
- Awarded April 15, 2020
- CLIENT: Jazz Martinez Gamboa
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 58,914
- Verification code 438C4E0B8B · Verify this award
About The Armor Costume for a Character
The Armor is a theatrical costume created for the character Richard III in a stage production of a Shakespeare play. The costume is made from recycled and disused materials. Metal lines are sewn onto a twill jacket, while overlapping leather gaiters form a separate structure joined by leather straps and buckles. A chainmail glove closes the sleeve, and a velvet hat lined with metal strips serves as a helmet. The six parts can be added or removed as the character changes during the play. The design reflects both the king and the vulnerable man within him.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- This armor, made with fully recycled materials, mixes metallic corset nerves referring to the classic western armor, topped by a butcher's chainmail glove that evokes the bloodthirsty of the character with leather leggings overlapping layers denoting the various faces assumed by the character during the plot. From a modernist vision in terms of fabric, overlapping and weaving of pieces the structure refers to the vulnerability of the King and the man who lives at the same time in Richard III.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Armor- 45cmx30cmx55cm
Helmet- diameter:57cm High: 23cm - Tags
- Costume design, Shakespeare, Richard III, Armor, theater, cuban designer, Samantha Chijona Design, schijonag.
- Production Technology
- The armor is compound by 6 pieces. 1: The metal structure, it is metal lines sewn on a twill weave jerkin jacket, 2: the leather armor, leather gaiters overlapping forms an independent structure that joins the rest of the set with leather straps closed by buckles, 3: The metal glove, a chainmail glove closes the cuff to give the sleeve a shot, 4: The helmet,
a velvet hat lined with metal strips works as an armor helmet 5: The pants, a black twill pants and finally 6: Black leather boots to the knees. - Design Challenge
- The development of the piece became a challenge, I wanted to do something great for the character but working in Cuba is always difficult due to the lack of resources, so while researching, I also located materials. Looking in an antique warehouse I found these old pieces of unused corsets bones and leather leggings and decided to use them. With only one month to prepare the entire theater play with more than 16 characters we were detained in this armor for a week, assembling, testing and sewing piece by piece in search of achieving an attractive but useful result.
- Project Duration
- The project started in June 2018 in Havana, Cuba and ended in September 2018 in Havana, Cuba.
- Operation Flow
- The piece is compound by 6 small parts, the main three, armor jacket, pant and boots are easy to put, also it has another leather structure which should be placed with buckles while the hat and the glove are closed by an elastic piece. the interaction between the actor and the piece is determined for the modular form of the main piece, the person can take off the leather part, the helmet, the glove and keep only the base jacket, pants and boots, in the same way he can add more pieces throught the evolution of the character inside the theater play.
- Research
- My research flew over two essential aspects, the historical and the technical. After having studied for years Western and Japanese armors, the challenge of creating one was wonderful. I had to solve how I should use the historical engineering structures in those garments with the modern materials I had in hand. I read and compiled images and information, of the western armor, I appropriated the metal and the order of the parts while from the Japanese I took overlays of leather pieces sewn with cord. The result was a very visual and modern armor that keeps its basic function, protection.
- Inspiration
- Having studied for years structures that we use when dressing and that have protected and distancing ourselves from the real world I choose one of my favorite, the armor. I took advantage of the study of Western and Japanese war pieces and modernized it with the use of materials and disused pieces. The text of Shakespeare's play emphasizes the two faces and the physical problem of the character I used it as inspiration to separate and show the two parts of Richard III.
- Image Credits
- Image 1,2,3,4,5: Samantha Chijona Photographer/ Samantha Chijona Designer /Richard III/ The Armor /Model: Maria Gabriela Sanchez, 2018
- Patents
- Copyrights belong to Chijona, Samantha, 2018
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G0E3 ShopDesign Interview about The Armor Costume for a Character
The text of Shakespeare's play emphasizes the many faces and the physical problem of the character, his troubles and aspirations, desires and fears, those feelings which accompanied him during all the play, letting him taste the glory and also the death. I wanted to create an armor inspired in that principle, a structure that left him vulnerable while protecting him, reflecting his personality from a modern vision and materials.
I was focused on the character presence on stage, the public had to understand that the King is also a human been. That's why I focused on keeping the essence of a classical armor while used modern and recycled materials, especially reflecting pieces to play with the light and leather ones to keep always one half in darkness. The spectator had to be impressed with the Richard III aspect, what he inspired, the fear and the lightness, but they should feel also his vulnerability and human side.
I was working in the theater play for two months, this armor in special takes me one month for all the conceptual work including a selection of materials and tests with them.
This design was commissioned, I worked for a young theater director who wanted to create a modern and different version of this classic Shakespeare play.
My costume design was a unique piece made by me for a commission for a Shakespeare by the young theater director known as Jazz Martinez Gamboa.
I really love costume design, my career until the time of this work had been mostly related to the film and TV world, so when I was called to be part of the costume team for this play, I was very excited. . I have always considered theater a platform where designers have great freedom and creative power. The play itself, a modernized Shakespeare made by women only, became challenging and allowed me to play with historical and modern elements at the same time and male and female patterns. The King's armor was positioned as one of the most pregnant pieces in the work and I considered creating something different. The lack of resources when working made me consider the search for already used materials and thus the project with which I entered the contest was born.
Having studied for years structures that we use when dressing and that have protected and distancing ourselves from the real world I choose one of my favorite, the armor. I took advantage of the study of Western and Japanese war pieces and modernized it and used it as inspiration. I always have like references designers who I admire for, like Eiko Ishioka or Michelle Clapton, both always work with overlapping, mixed materials, colors, and textures and created incredible costume designs for a lot of big projects.
I think two elements make this design unique, one of them is the materials with which it was created, reused pieces from old corsets and leather leggings that simply appeared in stock and we decided to combine, and the other is such a close relationship that unites the piece to the text, the armor became one more reflection of the personality and traumas of Ricardo III, discovering his physical problem and emphasizing the darkness and light within the man and the King who coexist inside him.
In the first part of the creative process when I was doing research and collecting references, I used Pinterest and Behance, then I went to a second phase of making sketches and tests with fabrics and colors, drawing a lot. Most of the tools I used this time come from an artisan process because the materials I had on hand (corset whales and riding gaiters) lacked flexibility and had had another function, it was impossible to assess their possibilities digital, it was time to test, assemble and sew by hand.
This armor is made with fully recycled materials, mixes metallic corset nerves referring to the classic western armor, topped by a butcher's chainmail glove that evokes the bloodthirsty of the character and leather leggings overlapping layers denoting the various faces assumed by the character during the plot. It has a modern vision in terms of fabric, overlapping, and weaving of pieces, It is unique the materials mix I used and how I organized them, letting them a new function. The play created between the lightness and darkness due to the metal and leather pieces creates also a beautiful contrast emphasizing the beauty of the design itself. It is Beautiful but also impressive and innovative.This armor, made with fully recycled materials, mixes metallic corset nerves referring to the classic western armor, topped by a butcher's chainmail glove that evokes the bloodthirsty of the character with leather leggings overlapping layers denoting the various faces assumed by the character during the plot. From a modernist vision in terms of fabric, overlapping and weaving of pieces the structure refers to the vulnerability of the King and the man who lives at the same time in Richard III.
For this project which included all the theater play costume, I worked with a great designer who was my professor, Vladimir Cuenca, he helped me to develop the first ideas and after when I had the design and I began to make tests my assistant Maria Gabriela Sanchez help me during the sewing and assembling process.
My research flew over two essential aspects, the historical and the technical. After having studied for years Western and Japanese armors, the challenge of creating one was wonderful. I made a deep analysis of different ways of assembly used in the antique armors, the leather ones from the Samurái culture, and the metal ones from the western. I had to do several fittings to make the armor fit like one only piece and let the actor move inside. I had to solve how I should use and modify the historical engineering structures in those garments with the modern materials I had in hand and also make tests with the corset bones and the leather pieces to mix, due to their predetermined shape. The result was a very visual and modern armor that keeps its basic function, protection while talks about innovation and recycling.
Two fundamental elements became challenges during the process of preparing and making the costumes for this work: lack of resources and lack of time.
Ricardo III is a complex and extensive work with many characters, working in Cuba and with a national budget, dressing everyone became a challenge. We were clear that clothing sewing should be limited to what was essential and therefore we would search warehouses and stock pieces to combine and create interesting outfits. With this premise, we found in a wardrobe store a box of old leather leggings and corset bones in disuse and we decided to give prominence to those magnificent pieces turning them into The armor. On the other hand, we only had two months to prepare the entire wardrobe, age it, test it and adjust it to the 16 actresses we worked with, until hours before the premiere we were finalizing details and varying elements. An exhausting but rewarding job that I still remember like a challenging one.
Ricardo III is a complex and extensive work with many characters, working in Cuba and with a national budget, dressing everyone became a challenge. We were clear that clothing sewing should be limited to what was essential and therefore we would search warehouses and stock pieces to combine and create interesting outfits. With this premise, we found in a wardrobe store a box of old leather leggings and corset bones in disuse and we decided to give prominence to those magnificent pieces turning them into The armor. On the other hand, we only had two months to prepare the entire wardrobe, age it, test it and adjust it to the 16 actresses we worked with, until hours before the premiere we were finalizing details and varying elements. An exhausting but rewarding job that I still remember like a challenging one.
I had uploaded the photos taken to the armor to my professional profiles only to have a work sample in my digital portfolio, but one day I received an email that encouraged me to meet the A Design Award and participate. By entering their page I noted the huge contest and the many categories they had so I decided to join and try. I understand the designers work for an audience, not for us, so, the contest allowed me to reach many more people and could help me to make my work more international so I was encouraged, and here I am, happy with this incredible award.
The work process for this design taught me the theatrical language, the scenic movement, and the importance and relationship of both with the costumes. I also learned the role of costumes as a central element, pregnant, fundamental, spectacular in a work, its ability to impress the public. A surprise that I found was the thousands of variants and possibilities that old materials give you when it comes to modernity, it is incredible that in most cases if you use creative thinking, the classic elements can totally lose their function and become a completely new piece.