Hugo Award eligibility & 2014 masterlist

It's Hugo Award nomination season, and I'm eligible in the Fan Writer category!

If you enjoy this blog, then please consider me on your Hugo ballot! To nominate for the 2015 awards, you need to tick one of these three boxes:

• You attended the 2014 Worldcon, Loncon3.
• You are going to the 2015 Worldcon (Spokane) or 2016 Worldcon (Kansas City), and bought a ticket before January 31st, 2015.
• You have a "supporting membership" for this year Worldcon. This is a lot cheaper than a convention ticket and consists of the ability to vote in the Hugos (obviously), plus various goodies like ebook versions of nominated books/short stories.

You can learn more about the Hugo Awards and the nomination process here. Nominations close on March 10, but if you didn't attend the 2014 con and haven't bought your membership to the 2015 con before January 31st, then you cannot nominate.

Highlights from HelloTailor in 2014

My epic seven-part analysis of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, obvs:

Part 1: "Trust No One" -- Steve Rogers as the ~gritty superhero America deserves.

Part 2: HYDRA, Sitwell, and diversity in the Marvel universe
Part 3: Black Widow and Falcon
Part 4: The Tragedy of Bucky Barnes
Part 5: Worldbuilding in the MCU
Part 6: Costuming and design: Steve & Bucky
Part 7: Costuming in CATWS: Nick Fury, Black Widow and S.H.I.E.L.D.

My review of Snowpiercer, and interview with Snowpiercer costume designer Catherine George.

"Interstellar, costume design, and the difficulties of "realistic" visual worldbuilding."

"Costume design in Hunger Games: Mockinjay, Part 1 -- Real or Not Real?"

Some thoughts on Doctor Who companions, the Twelfth Doctor, and costume design.

Weekly recaps of NBC's Constantine.

And, less sci-fi/fantasy but definitely still in the category of fan writing:

Costuming and design in NBC's Hannibal

Sherlock reviews: The Empty Hearse, The Sign of Three, and His Last Vow.

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Interview: Agent Carter costume designer Gigi Melton

Previously: A guide to the 1940s costume design of Agent Carter

Agent Carter combines so many of my favorite things: comicbook adventures, a complex female protagonist, 1940s spy hijinks and, of course, beautiful costumes and set design. The post-war setting is a fascinating period to explore from a fashion history perspective, and I was happy to see that all of the costumes have a strong characterization element as well.

Costume designer Giovanna "Gigi" Melton caught my attention on Twitter with her many behind-the-scenes posts about her work on Agent Carter, and she was kind enough to grant me an interview. Read on for more background on the amazing costumes in this show, plus a selection of Melton's original design sketches.

HelloTailor: How did you go about researching and designing the overall look for the show? Were you influenced by any of the comics, or was it more a matter of exploring the 1940s aesthetic?

Gigi Melton: A combination of much research.  For Peggy the influences were Lauren Bacall, Katherine Hepburn, Hedy Lamarr. The smart, strong, fashionable and beautiful women of the era.

For SSR [Strategic Scientific Reserve] agents Dooley, Thompson, Sousa, and Krzmenski I researched government and detective looks. For eccentric Stark it was Howard Hughes and for Jarvis it was a British nod to tweeds. Coupled with comic book research, I took all of my inspiration and tailored it to create the individual looks for the scripted characters.

HelloTailor: I saw that you managed to source at least one vintage dress for Hayley Atwell, which made me wonder how many other costumes are original pieces from the '40s. A lot of historical dramas try to use a mix of vintage costumes and new designs, occasionally with vintage-style underwear to add authenticity to the look. Is this how you worked with Agent Carter?

Gigi Melton: Most of Peggy was built for the show, however there are  a few amazing vintage pieces in her closet.  We have vintage style lingerie but we modify with other pieces as well because of all the action. For Dooley, Thompson, Sousa and Krzmenski , their sport jackets and suits are about half vintage and half custom, all of their ties are vintage. With the exception of vintage ties, Stark and Jarvis are custom.

HelloTailor: How do you deal with creating clothes for action scenes? That must be tricky, especially since Peggy spends so much time wearing skirts.

Gigi Melton: Lots of multiples. As an example: the gold dress in episode one has a built foundation made with cotton trigger [a sturdy type of cloth], all boned so she do the kicking as well as being slammed around. Otherwise the fabric would have ripped. We make blouses and jackets with specific slits to allow for harnesses. For kicks in skirts I have vintage style black silk tap shorts to wear under.

Carter's disguise from episode 1 was inspired by Veronica Lake.

HelloTailor: Could you tell me a little about Peggy's red hat? Did you realize at the time that it was going to become such an important part of her image?

Gigi Melton: The red hat was scripted as:  A red hat in a sea of gray fedoras. For my design I thought,  Peggy is competing in this man's world, and her hat needs to be powerful to match all the fedoras but still be feminine. I truly had no idea it would take off this way.

Note the red, white and blue color scheme!

HelloTailor: I'd love to know more about how you differentiated between the male SSR agents, since they have to wear relatively similar outfits to work each day. Were you aiming to give Sousa a softer look with his cardigans?

Gigi Melton: For our SSR guys Dooley, Thompson, Krzeminski, and Sousa, each have a distinctive look befitting their character. Chief Roger Dooley (Shea Whigham) wears  strong double breasted suits; Jack Thompson (Chad Michael Murray) wears  single breasted with a fashion edge  coupled with suspenders; Daniel Sousa (Enver Gjokaj) wears sweater vests under his sport coats and pleated pants, I chose the sweater vests as a more approachable look, but also one that he could be comfortable with a crutch ; and Ray Krzeminski (Kyle Bornheimer) is a bit of a slob with his sport jacket, and open collar shirts. 

HelloTailor: Finally, Jarvis really stands out from the other male characters. Were you going for a particularly British style with his tailored suits, as opposed to a more American look sported by characters like Jack Thompson?

Gigi Melton: Yes -- I wanted his look to reflect his British roots, and the Jarvis look is very distinctive to all the other characters . The script  described him as a man in a tweed suit. But I wanted him to have a European style and aesthetic as well. So I felt the direction of a suit and vest, balanced with the casual but beautiful tweeds (which Britain is famous for) created a perfect look for his character as butler and front man for Stark. 

Previously: A guide to the 1940s costume design of Agent Carter
Further reading: ABC's featurette on Agent Carter's costumes, and Tyranny of Style's preview interview.
See also: The Bletchley Circle

Tumblr: HelloTailor
Twitter: @Hello_Tailor

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Behind the seams of the Oscars' costume design category

The Oscar nominees were announced yesterday, and of course I was compelled to write about the costume design category. Specifically, my frustration regarding the kind of films that are routinely ignored, year after year.

Do all of the designers on this list deserve to be nominated? Well, yes. They're all brilliant, and did great work on the films in question. But the selection process for this category is still deeply flawed, and fails to represent the range of talent on offer.

As Roger Ebert pointed out in his unwritten rules of the Oscars, the Academy rarely gives out awards for subtlety. "It never hurts to ask yourself," he wrote, "Who did the 'most' acting? Most editing? Most noticeable cinematography or music?"
In the costume category, this is truer than ever. The award invariably goes to the film with the most impressive and noticeable costumes, whether this means creating a selection of historically accurate crinolines or outfitting an army of elves.
Two ingredients are required for an Oscar nomination in costume design. First, it's helpful to be a familiar face who has been nominated several times before. Secondly, you need to have worked on a historical drama (preferably starring Keira Knightley), a sci-fi/fantasy epic, or a musical—the three genres that produce the most showy and memorable costumes.
Judging by these two criteria, this year's nominees are comfortably predictable.
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A guide to 1940s costume design in Marvel's Agent Carter

Marvel's Agent Carter begins tonight, and I wrote this Daily Dot article to coincide with the first episode. It's a spoiler-free background for Peggy Carter's costumes, and why the show is set during such an interesting period in fashion history.

Set in 1946, Agent Carter's seven-part espionage story is rooted in postwar culture. And like the first Captain America movie, one of its defining features is its 1940s aesthetic, immediately setting it apart from Marvel's other TV show, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The biggest influence on Western fashion in 1946 was, obviously, World War II. Fabric rationing led to a trend for simpler clothes, and women's fashions suddenly became more practical due to the influx of women joining the workforce—like Peggy Carter, whose career began in the Strategic Scientific Reserve during the war. These factors added up to women wearing low heels and plain, knee-length skirts without pleats or frills, and men wearing suits without cuffs or flaps on the pockets. 

Agent Carter takes place during a dynamic period in fashion history, the transition from wartime austerity to the postwar styles that would define the 1950s. By 1947 the French fashion industry was up and running again, and Christian Dior introduced the so-called "New Look" of nipped-in waists and flouncy calf-length skirts.

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