Chris Benz and Epic

Friday, May 10, 2013

Often times, you go to an animated movie and think of the cinematography, the story and the score of the movie. With animation you often don't think about costume design and the process of what goes on behind it...Well, Last night I got the opportunity to attend a fabulous event sponsored by IFB held at the Crosby Hotel in downtown NY.


The event kicked off with a mixer with champagne and popcorn and continued with a 3D preview of Epic the movie (out in theaters May 24th). After the preview, Michael Knapp the art director behind the film gave a sneak peak into the inspiration and design focus behind the movie. The concept of the movie is a civilization hidden from sight (due to their size) protected by leaf men. Given the concept, inspiration for costumes was drawn from the natural world and all things nature. Outfits were created from beetle shells as well as the mosaic scales of a butterfly and the pattern from the wings of a moth.



                                          Who knew that so much thought and planning goes into the fashion concepts in animation.

Designer Chris Benz
Next in the spotlight was designer Chris Benz who was inspired by the film and created a dress using the same concepts. In the movie Beyonce Knowles plays Queen Tara, a character of light and magic surrounding her. She seems to activate nature when present. Her dress in the film is an elegant and graceful layered dress using large Iris petals in the front and smaller daisy and honeysuckle flowers that are luminous and airy in the back. When Chris made his own version of this dress he created a world for Queen Tara and pictured what she would wear on the streets of let's say NYC!
Queen Tara: Floral Animated Dress                            Chris Benz Design
Chris Benz and his design: Epic Dress




A Very Sweet Blog said...

What an awesome event! That dress is amazing! A lot of work goes into animations. It's a tedious process. I admire the people who work behind the scenes.

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