Chloe Oppermann
For my major project I chose to design the costumes for the musical comedy "Earth girls are easy" 1988 . A camp comedy about three aliens who arrive on earth with the goal of finding women to study. They meet Valerie a manicurist from LA who has just broken up with her cheating boyfriend, who had found these aliens. She helps them transform into handsome men which leads her to look at them in a different way. I wanted to look into how the alien characters would transform into men with the intention that this would be the focus for my main constructed garments. I loved the idea of what could be considered natural on other planets, considering for example the possibility of sequins growing from the ground.
My objective for this project was to create an amalgamation of different aesthetics, textures , and colours. I wanted to create a fun visual feast for the eyes for this non-times specific musical comedy.
I was looking to explore, particularly in my final garment, textures and the idea of transformation. I wanted a costume with two parts ,creating my interpretation of alien to man with two elements. One of my other goals was to recreate the furry texture described throughout the text through a new lens. I explored and took inspiration from a lot of different visual and performance artists during the research and design development process of this project.
This essay is about the genesis of ballroom culture and all the other important social and economic movements that happened alongside this to create this subculture, which now has evolved into popular culture with cultural moment like Madonna's 'Vogue' or Beyoncé's 'Renaissance' album .I was interested in discovering where this movement of self expression for queer people through dance and fashion began.
Chloe Oppermann is costume design student from Dublin. She is a lover of all things colourful loud and camp ,and with her love of vintage fashion from many eras can be seen in her designs and with this also a love for sourcing and styling. Chloe hopes to bring her colourful and campy vision to the world through her work.
