I didn't either. As both a historian and a costume designer, I see no
reason to be embarrassed about the very good reasons why accuracy > is
often compromised on the stage. I still groan when I watch films with
terribly bastardized fashions, but I can often tell why they did it.
Telling the story is first priority. Accuracy is icing for the geeks. :)
Melanie Schuessler
Exactly. The ones that really irk me are the ones where the story would be
better served by most accurate costumes and they still don't.
I just read a very interesting article about Memoirs of a Geisha. Lisa
Dalby, who is the only non-Japanese ever trained as a geisha, was a
consultant on the film, and was upset that they didn't use the correct
make-up, but did a modified version, until she overheard a couple of
stagehands talking about how wierd the complete white-faced look was to
them. She realized that, in order to portray the women as beautiful and
sexy, the traditional make-up had to be modified for the modern and western
audience, that where a Japanese (and especially an older Japanese audience
would see them as being beautiful, the intended audience would not.
Melusine
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