Violet Evergarden
My first graduate project is a live-action adaptation of the 2018 anime series 'Violet Evergarden' which follows Violets journey of self-discovery while ghost-writing for civilians after a great war, changing the lives of those she writes for as well as her own.
For my interpretation, I decided streamline the style of the characters by focussing on late Victorian silhouettes within the stylisation and inspiration for the costumes. Fashion of the 1880s and 1890s were a focal point for me as this is when the typewriter had a huge boom in demand and revolutionised the workplace for women through jobs opportunities as scribes and clerks, helping them grow a career in the working world. This is a nice parallel to the world of Violet Evergarden, where scribes in the story are women who can establish a renowned reputation for themselves as skilled and talented writers, which is something I want to highlight through the costume design. With historical fashion being the basis of my research, I wanted to explore how I could stylise my production, taking inspiration from contemporary textile and print approaches seen in runway fashion to create an anachronistic outcome, making the costumes unique to their fictional, historical fantasy world. Throughout my designs, I include handwriting and handwritten texts within the print, highlighting the idea of self expression through words which a the central theme of the series.
