University Projects

Project Synopsis

For my own contemporary version of The Nutcracker, I wanted to adapt the designs and concepts with a 21st Century twist. The Nutcracker has been performed hundreds of times since it was adapted into a ballet in the late 1800’s and many performances up until this day still follow the same tradition costumes. However, my concept is to update the costumes by taking influence from modern day culture, such as fashion and architecture. I want to bring all these elements together to form costumes that will represent these Nutcracker characters in today’s society.

The Nutcracker

To modernise the Nutcracker character, I looked towards modern day soldiers and thought that it could be interesting to twist the character by making the Nutcracker female. I think that this would be a good representation of modern society as there is a rising number of women enlisting in the armed forces and women having a greater role in military service across the world. I also wanted to bring in current trends to change up from the tradition looking Nutcracker, which not only lead me to looking at modern day soldier’s uniforms but also designer wear that uses camo designs. I found Off-White’s 2017 and Dior’s 2020 cruise collections interesting to explore trendy shapes and style for the camo look, which I could explore in my design work.

Danse Espanel

To modernise the Danse Espanel, I looked at modern Spanish architecture and looked at popular street-style clothing to adapt alongside the traditional Spanish look. I still wanted to bring in traditional elements, such as Spanish tiling and the flamenco dancer style dresses. I also want to look at exploring colour as I want brown to be a key feature as the theme of the Danse Espanel is chocolate, but I also want to keep with the yellow and red of the Spanish flag.  

Danse Arabe

Similarly, for the Danse Arabe I want to combine traditional elements with modern day trends. Architecture is going to be a key theme for this danse as the Middle Eastern Countries are known for developing very interesting and modern buildings, exploring shapes in a new way and they also have a very rich history with architecture and tiling. I think it would be interesting to explore these elements together. I also want to look at fashion and the way is might be modernising in the Middle East, looking at key Arab designers. However, the Arab culture is still very traditional with the way they dress because of religious reasons, which is something I want to remain as a feature. The colour palette is also going to be brown toned and dark colouring as it’s representing coffee.

Danse Chinoise

Also, for the Danse Chinoise I wanted to explore the tradition culture of China, such as kimonos, tea and Chinese lanterns, with modern day elements. For example, looking at architecture and the shaping of the building and also looking at the cities with the billboard lighting, which makes me want to explore a lot of bold colouring for the costumes. I also want to look at Chinese street style, which would be interesting to modernise the dancers into the 21st Century. Also, through researching I found that in 2015 the Met Gala theme was China: Through the Looking Glass, and I found it very interesting to see how designers had adapted elements of the Chinese culture into trendy clothing and thought it was great for design influence.