watercolor drawings
“The work is a series of watercolor drawings for the class THTR331 Costume Design I. The theme is Artist-Inspired Circus. I designed costumes for the five performers with the influence of French illustrator Erté. The media I applied is a combination of watercolor and gold pigment.”
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- I decided to give her a mask with a peacock feeling because she is “the leading performer” and should be outstanding. Her real fur cocoon coat with a scarlet silk lining suggests an elegant and classic silhouette. And her red off-shoulder dress emphasizes her waistline with a popular 1920s shape.
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- Gold, yellow and orange are the dominant colors of this costume. As a lion tamer, she definitely has some animal-like features either to please the audience or to reduce the vigilance of the lion. I gave her a lion-inspired headdress decorated with fur and chains. Her one-piece dress is constructed of two long braids. She wears this outfit barefoot.
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- I kept the iconic hat with tassels for my clown and designed a brand-new outfit with purple and green, which makes her unusual. Her makeup is a combination and redesign of Asian opera makeup (on her eyebrows and lip) and traditional clown makeup. I really like her eyebrows and her green and purple eye shadow. The doll she holds wears a similar costume to her, so you can image she stores her soul in the doll. That’s creepy, right?
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- This design is pretty simple because I just used ribbon to construct all her clothing. As a trapeze artist, she is free in the air and she can make any gesture with the trapeze. Meanwhile she is imprisoned by the ribbon.
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- The entire outfit, especially the makeup and headdress, was inspired by Chinese flying apsaras, who were a group of imagined flying gods. Once she was ejected from the canon, she started to “fly,” and the bead chains attached to her waist started to “float.” The ideal situation would be that there is a spotlight always capturing her.
My name is Lingxi Zou, and I am currently a junior at USC. I am an international student from China, so you may find some Asian influence in my artwork. My interest and curiosity in pure “beauty” and historical aesthetics pushed me to explore the world and different cultures.