The Costume Designers Guild Awards are coming up on Saturday, February 22nd (tomorrow!) and Jarrett Wieselman from Buzzfeed spoke with Trish Summerville (nominated for Excellence in Fantasy Film) about her favorite costume from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
Who: Trish Summerville
What: Johanna Mason’s District 7 Tribute
When: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’s chariot scene
Where: Custom-made
Why: Because Johanna has to make an immediate impact and isn’t given pages of dialogue to do so, Summerville had to ensure the character’s clothes spoke volumes. “She had to project a strong sexuality and she had to have this attitude because she’s a previous victor,” Summerville said. “She knows the game and she spends a lot of time in The Capitol, so she’s schooled and aware and knows the drill. She knows she’ll be paraded about, she knows people need to fear her, and be intimidated from the get-go.”
A task made infinitely more difficult since, in this scene, Johanna had to represent lumber, District 7’s chief industry. “Whenever you hear, ‘Dress someone like a tree,’ you think of a school play,” Summerville said, laughing. “I wanted her to be more like a streamlined, threatening warrior. That’s why I did her in a bodysuit and not a dress because she doesn’t have a feminine soft quality.”
Johanna's chariot costume is currently on display at the FIDM Museum in Los Angeles. Photo by Joe Kucharski/Tyranny of StyleTo create the killer couture (which is only seen from the waist up in the final film), Summerville incorporated pieces of actual bark into a tightly constructed leather corset, which was accented with three-dimensional green paint. That was paired with Eddie Borgo bracelets that resembled thorns, and Alexander McQueen boots that had vine detailing down the heel. “All of those pieces worked so well together,” she recalled. “Johanna’s dramatic and, in her mind, thinks she’s the tribute who stands out the most in that moment.”
Wiseman talks to 16 other nominated costume designers from tv and movies in his article HERE.
The 15th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards will be held on Saturday, February 22nd, 2014 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
You can see Johanna's costume on display at The Art of Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibit at the FIDM Museum in Los Angeles through April 26th.