Feature. Recreating Cleopatra's Entrance to Rome. Kathe Gust* and Philip Gust*

Transcription

1 Feature Recreating Cleopatra's Entrance to Rome Kathe Gust* and Philip Gust* Recreating one of the most famous Hollywood costumes required detective work and a lot of luck. and nods, and the scene ends as Taylor makes a deep bow, the large royal golden plume on top her crown dipping gracefully towards Caesar in homage. What an entrance! Taylor's ceremonial costume consisted of a cape, overdress, skirt, headdress and shoes. After the movie was released, some of the costume pieces came into private hands, either through studio garage sales in the late 1960s and 1970s, or people associated with the production keeping them afterwards a not uncommon occurrence at the time. In the last five years, some pieces of the costume, including the cape and the headdress, were sold at auction, which is how this costuming project began. The 1963 movie Cleopatra is one of the best known Hollywood blockbusters, with lavish costumes by the legendary designer Irene Sharaff. The costumes that she designed for Elizabeth Taylor in the title role are iconic, and helped start a fashion trend in women's clothing and jewelry, as Taylor herself predicted. Perhaps the most famous some would say notorious -- costume from that or any movie is the gold ceremonial costume with winged cape that Taylor wore in the scene with Rex Harrison as Caesar, when she made her spectacular entrance to Rome. Amid the fanfare and a throng of thousands of costumed performers, Taylor enters the plaza riding atop an 50ft sphinx pulled by a team of slaves. As it approaches the dais, Taylor and her throne are carried down its flight of stairs on a platform, and she approaches the dais. Harrison steps forward Copyright 2010 Silicon Web Costumers' Guild Rex Harrison as Caesar and Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra in Entrance to Rome scene. Photo: 20th Century Fox. -31ISSN

2 We have found that costume auctions are an excellent source of information for reproducing costumes that few, if any of us, could afford to purchase. Many auction houses take detailed photos of the costume and prop pieces they offer, and publish highresolution images in their online catalogs. Sometimes, they also provide detailed descriptions of the pieces, including materials and key dimensions. including ones not in the auction catalog, showing additional details. From the photos, it was clear that the headdress would be just as daunting to recreate as the cape. Still, we had high-resolution images of two of the major pieces of the costume, and the overdress that Taylor wore might have been auctioned at some point too. When Cleopatra's gold cape from the movie was sold by Heritage Auctions in 2012 for $60,000, Philip wrote an article on the importance of auction house photos, using the cape as an an example (see Elizabeth Taylor's Phoenix Cape from Cleopatra, vol. 10 issue 2, 2012) His article article analyzed the photos to show how the cape had actually been constructed. Then, in the dealer's room at CostumeCon, we discovered a bolt of rare gold fashion leather that exactly matched the description and images in the auction catalog of the material used for the original cape. There was more than enough. We looked at each other, took a deep breath, and bought the entire bolt. In spite of our best efforts, we had just committed to the project From the preliminary analysis, we concluded that recreating the cape would be a daunting task, and we didn't seriously consider taking on the project at the time. Besides, costumes recreated for historical masquerades generally need to be more than fifty years old, and the cape would not be eligible until And if we ever did decide to do it, we'd want to recreate the entire costume. Several months later, we discovered that the headdress had sold at a Profiles in History auction in 2011 for $100,000, so we went to the auction site and captured the photos that were still there if you know where to look. Several other sites reporting on the auction also published photos, We still weren't committing, though. Kathe was in the middle of a major historical costuming project and she'd need a year off before starting another difficult one. However, she did begin doing some background research to see if there was enough contemporary information available about the costume to fill in the gaps. We also started keeping our eyes out for the materials we'd need, because that's often the most time-consuming part of any historical costuming project. Once we decided to recreate Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra, Philip suggested that we might as well recreate Rex Harrison's Caesar as well, and stage a version of the Entrance to Rome scene for our presentation. Kathe just rolled her eyes. Elizabeth Taylor in the gold ceremonial costume from Entrance to Rome scene from Cleopatra. Photo: 20th Century Fox -32- In this article,we will focus just on Elizabeth Taylor's costume, and leave the description of our recreation of Harrison's costume for a later article. Cleopatra's is the more elaborate of the two, and includes a number of interesting construction details..the following sections describe the research that Kathe did on the costume, and our recreation of the ensemble.

3 connections and knew what the staff could accomplish. Several of the parts that have come up for auction still have Western Costume labels in the pieces (below). Research The picture was conceived in a state of emergency, shot in confusion and wound up in blind panic. - director Joseph Mankiewicz. The Entrance to Rome scene in the film represents the quadruple triumph celebration of Gaius Julius Caesar s four splendid victories over the Gauls, King Pharnaces of Pontus, King Juba of Numidia and the Egyptians. The actual event took place on July 25, 46 BCE. The film costumes combine 1960 s glamor, theatrical convention and historical research. Cleopatra's ceremonial costume is the only one Taylor wore in the film that is not essentially an orientalized 1960 s fashion, though it does have historical anomalies. The historical Cleopatra is known to have been a devotee of the goddess Isis, and definitely did dress as the goddess on occasion, such as during the famous Donations of Alexandria. The decision to use a classic Egyptian style was made by designer Irene Sharaff, who wanted the design of that particular costume firmly tied to Egyptian religion and tradition. The use of a winged design for the cape reflects Cleopatra s affinity with the goddess Isis as stated in the film script. Western Costume label for Elizabeth Taylor costume. Producer Walter Wanger also mentions in his published diary of the filming, My Life with Cleopatra, that he, Went to Western Costume to see Irene Sharaff s costumes for Liz. They are marvelous... Above: Cleopatra VII relief carving at the Dendara temple complex. Below: Highly elaborate Hemhem Crowns worn by Akhenaten and Nefertiti Partly based on the relief carving of the queen at the Dendara Temple complex (left), it is doubtful that the real Cleopatra wore anything like this outside public ceremonial events. For the Greek-descended Ptolemy kings and queens, Egyptian dress was nothing more than a masquerade costume that might hold a political resonance with the people. In Broadway & Hollywood: Costumes Designed by Irene Sharaff, Sharaff also makes it clear that this particular costume was made in Hollywood, very probably at Western Costume where she had Sharaff knew the costume would be important in the film and wanted to ensure it would be ready on time it was due to be filmed early in the shooting and that it should be as spectacular as possible. -33-

4 The ceremonial costume is at the center of a number of film myths. Irene Sharaff never once said it was made of cloth of gold, though she does mention some bullion embroidery on one item in the ensemble. She also sets the price tag of the completed costume well below the oftreported $ (1963 dollars) price tag. were guided by the evidence from hundreds of production and backstage photos. We will discuss the individual items in the following sections, and show photos of their construction. Here is a brief summary: Cleopatra's Cape re-creation of the life size pattern, hand beaded and hand sewn in accordance with known facts about the original, using information from the auction description, high resolution photos, and research. She recounts a story about the 24karat gold costume in her book: During the filming and in the promotion of the picture much was made of the gold ceremonial costume that Cleopatra wore at her entrance to Rome. The cost of making the complete costume about two thousand dollars was blown up by publicity to triple and quadruple that sum. Fun fact: For at least three months in late 2014 and early 2015, most of the North American supply of Japanese silver-lined gold bead stock was at our house, either already hand-sewn onto the cape or waiting to to be over 100,000 in all. Walter (Wanger), as the producer, gallantly entertained socialites and celebrities and visiting movie stars in the Cinecitta (Rome) commissary. One day, lunching the Baroness de Rothschild, he was in full steam about the gold costume. At the neighboring table I heard him announce seven thousand dollars! She, hardly turning her head, remarked that for that sum she could not even get a raincoat at Balenciaga." Construction Summary We constructed all the items for the costumes either using patterns that we made or re-created, or by draping ourselves. We selected the fabrics in accordance with those available in the early 1960s. Most pieces were sewn by hand, though major seams in Cleopatra s overdress and Caesar's costume Cleopatra's Overdress pattern was drafted, bodice was hand trapunto quilted, and gown was fully lined with silk. Cleopatra's Skirt vintage pleated, gold polyester knit skirt from the mid-1960s used in homage to fashion trend started by Ms. Taylor. Irene Sharaff adjusting the cloak of Elizabeth Taylor's gold ceremonial costume on the set of Cleopatra. were stabilized by later machine sewing over the hand sewing. Our guiding principle was to seek out any information about the original costumes, and to re-create them based on known facts. Where we could not find descriptions, we -34- Cleopatra's Shoes hand painted in multiple gold shades to simulate those worn in the scene. Cleopatra's Headdress re-creation of the life size patterns, made of the same materials and construction techniques used for the original, using information from the auction description, high resolution photos, and research.

5 Cleopatra s Cape The cape is also referred to as the Isis, Ceremonial or Phoenix Cape, since the design was crafted to resemble the wings of a Phoenix according to the auctioneer. Taylor wore it in two key scenes in the film: Cleopatra's Entrance to Rome and Cleopatra's Death. The catalog describes it as, an ornately designed piece made of thin panels of goldpainted leather adorned with hand-stitched gold bugle beads, seed beads and bead-anchored sequins. Irene Sharaff described the cape as the wings of Isis and has this to say about it. For the wings of Isis... I drew the pattern in exact size. Their foundation was a coarse net, on which were appliquéd pieces of thin gold kid cut in the form of stylized feathers. What became of the original pattern that Sharaff drew is anyone s guess, but if making the original was anything like the process we used during our recreation, Above: Elizabeth Taylor's gold ceremonial cape auction photo showing shape and layout of feathers, and detail of shoulder feathers Photo: Heritage Auctions Left: Elizabeth Taylor in cape stepping from sphinx from Entrance to Rome scene of Cleopatra. Photo: 20th-Century Fox.. chances are good that the handdrawn pattern was cut into individual feathers, used, and probably discarded afterward. Fortunately, one of the images that Heritage Auctions published was a high-resolution photo of the cape laid out flat to reveal the shape of the wing and the pattern of the individual -35- feathers. (above) They also published key dimensions that enabled us to determine the scale of the image. Using this information, we scaled and printed the image in monochrome at its actual size. Kathe happens to be exactly the same height as Taylor when she made the movie, so we were also able to compare photos of Taylor wearing the cape with Kathe wearing the pattern to confirm our calculations.

6 We printed two copies. One was cut into sections, then each feather in a section was numbered and cut out to use as a pattern for cutting the gold fashion leather. (below) The numbers allowed us to place the feathers on black nylon net for beading to match the original positions. Each piece of nylon net corresponded to a section of the pattern. For example, individual feathers (below at top), corresponding to the top-left most section, will be applied to nylon net, and the uncut feathers, once cut out, will be applied to a different piece of net to form the lower left section. Details of the high-resolution photos show that the original was made in same way. Each feather was individually cut from the fashion leather and pinned to its corresponding section and location on the nylon net, using the second full-size pattern as a guide. Once all the feathers pinned, they were tacked on and the section was ready for beading. Beading the feathers also attaches them securely to the net. The beading patterns can be seen on several of the high resolution photos (right). The photos also enabled us to determine the sizes and amounts of the beads and sequins. We beaded the feathers entirely by hand using two sizes of seed beads (#11 and #15), three sizes of sequins (2.5mm, 4mm, and 6mm) and four sizes of bugle beads (3mm, 6mm, 9mm, and 12mm). We used Japanese silver-lined glass in shades of gold and light gold. Feathers cut from pattern printed from cape auction photo Area of high-resolution photo of upper-right portion of cape, including neck and long feathers. Photo: Heritage Auctions.

7 Cape is made up of sections of feathers tacked and beaded onto black nylon net. Series shows sections placed over printed pattern from a high-resolution image of original cape. -37-

8 After completing the beading, all of the sections were trimmed and re-assembled on the coarse cargo net base lying over the second full-sized pattern to ensure proper alignment. The sections were then hand sewn to the net. Cleopatra s Overdress I was lucky enough to find a photograph of a small headless statue in the Cairo Museum, whose dress gave me a clue to designing Cleopatra s costumes. The tight-fitting bodice showed fine lines of trapunto or, as it is more commonly called, quilting, one of the oldest forms of decoration - Irene Sharaff Rear detail from high-resolution auction photo shows mesh backing on feathers and mesh attached to net. Note tan stitches from application of beadwork. The overdress worn as part of the Ceremonial Costume has a complicated history. It is the single most jarring part of the costume to historical purists due to the tight waistline, darts and the obvious separating zipper down the center front of the dress. Irene Sharaff states that the overdress was made of gold lamé over silk and embroidered with gold bullion. Final assembly of cape sections onto black cargo mesh base. Our recreation of the overdress was made of heavy woven lamé. The bodice and hip areas were flatlined with muslin that had a feather pattern traced on it. The pattern was -38- Behind-the-scenes photo of Elizabeth Taylor shows details of the ceremonial costume overdress and skirt.

9 hand embroidered through both fabrics using an antique gold floss since metallic threads of any gold color simply disappeared into the fabric. After the embroidery, the darts were sewn and each feather segment of the muslin backing was opened to permit the design to be trapunto quilted. A final lining of old gold silk was applied as was the obvious requisite front zipper. seem incorrect. It may have been a test version that was never used. It may be a replica made for promotional purposes since we know from a few newspaper reports of the time that actual costume wardrobe items or replicas were loaned to local groups for fashion shows to promote the film. (right) She has several reasons for believing that it is not the right gown. First, the fabric of the auction version does not appear to actually be lamé, despite the labelling, but only some yellow textile, possibly silk. Second, and more importantly, our own experience with the costume demonstrates that any sequins on the overdress are bound to catch in and be ripped off by the coarse net base supporting the cape. This might account for the stated sequin loss on the shoulder areas of this version, and could have led to it being shelved and replaced with a lamé version using an embroidered design, which would not snag in the net. A piece claiming to be the actual overdress was put up for auction in The interesting result of that auction posting was a withdrawal of the item and a lawsuit. According to an anonymous collector of film memorabilia, this item was a fake since he owned the actual overdress used in the film! The sequined gown at auction had been privately purchased in 1999 with some other items and had been warranted to be authentic. Described by the auction house as: constructed entirely of heavy gold lamé on silk, with some sequin loss, especially at shoulders and containing a Western Costume label inscribed Elizabeth Taylor Close examination of the existing photos of Ms. Taylor wearing the overdress without the cape, do not show any sequins on the overdress she is wearing on the set, and the pattern apparent on the garment is not the geometric one on the sequined version, but a more organic feather pattern that appears to be embroidered and trapunto quilted as Sharaff states in her book. Ensemble borrowed for fashion show promoting movie. The controversial sequined version of this design showed up again recently. It was placed on stage at a cocktail party for the 50th anniversary of the film at the Cannes Film Festival, but considering that the mannequin was also wearing a very simple tissue lamé version of the cape and an obviously re-created headdress, the authenticity of this sequined version of the overdress design is still doubtful. Kathe believes that the sequined version was not the one used for filming. The cut appears to be similar, but details -39- The resolution of the lawsuit over this version of the overdress has not been reported, but obviously this gown is still out there. Cleopatra s Skirt These gowns are too gorgeous to be left behind...they ll make the most wonderful ball gowns and party dresses... All of them are precious. But what is more important, they re as modern as tomorrow. I think I ll set a new trend. Not only with the dresses but the hairdos and such the Cleopatra look. - Elizabeth Taylor (Photoplay, April 1962, p. 30.)

10 Front bodice panel of overdress of heavy woven lame. Panel was flatlined with muslin with feather pattern traced on. Feather pattern was hand embroidered through both layers using antique gold floss. Backing was opened to permit feather design to be trapunto quilted with batting. -40-

11 Cleopatra s Headdress The headdress was topped by a crown, based on the one on the bas-relief at Denderah, formed by a circle of cobras and the sun disk and the two feathers associated with the goddess Isis. Wah Chang executed the elaborate crown out of papier-mâché. Irene Sharaff, Broadway & Hollywood: costumes designed by Irene Sharaff. Oliver Messel's (left) and Wah Chang's (right) versions. The original skirt of the ceremonial costume is one of the undocumented pieces. It has never come up for auction and is usually very well hidden beneath the overdress and cape in photos. From the glimpses we can catch through the center front opening of the overdress, it is evidently pleated, and reaches to Ms. Taylor's instep. We were fortunate to come across a complete vintage evening ensemble from the time of the film that included a permanently sunburst pleated gold polyester knit skirt. We chose to use this vintage garment in homage to the many ways the film influenced fashion at the time of its original release in the early 1960 s. Miss Taylor did set her trend! The headdress is a mystery, not because nothing is known about it, but simply because much of what is known is second hand at best. Taylor's costumes were originally designed by Oliver Messel for the aborted Pinewood production. When Walter Wanger took over the production and moved it form London to Rome, he brought in Irene Sharaff, who redesigned all Taylor's costumes for the production. We know that in 1961, Sharaff turned to legendary special effects master Wah Ming Chang and his small Projects Unlimited effects team to re-fabricate a headdress made for the Pinewood production for use with Taylor's gold ceremonial costume. There are scant records of the process or materials he used except recollections from Sharaff and others in letters and books. However we know something about the materials and techniques that Chang used regularly, and the scope of his workshop. As a result, we could make some judgements about how he re-fabricated Taylor's headdress where no other information was available. Auction catalog photo of Cleopatra headdress. Photo: Profiles in History. -41-

12 We also had the high-resolution images of the headdress from the 2011 Profiles in History auction. Using these images and ones taken by others who viewed the headdress on display, we were able to determine scale and create full-size patterns for the elements. The headdress showed significant deterioration, but that also provided valuable clues about the materials and construction techniques. A lot can be learned about a prop from the way that it falls apart. paper clay, a kind of papier-mâché. Beads were added as the eyes. The disks were formed from paper clay in candy molds. When dry, they were glued to the heads using the center wire formed into a loop. Circles of heavy paper glued to the backs of the disks over the wire helped secure the disks to the wire. Wire glued to heavy paper forms back of cobra frame. Taking Ms. Sharaff at her word, and using the high resolution photos of the headdress from the auction as a guide we experimented to see whether any parts of the headdress could be made in papier-mâché, and found that it could. We recreated the ring of cobras and the uraeus (the cobra image of the goddess Wadjet with the vulture image of the goddess Nekhbet representing of the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt) from a combination of wire, paper, muslin, beads and sculpted papier-mache. Sizes, and shapes were based on measurements of images enlarged to full-size based on internal scale measurements. The frames were hand-bent from wire to a template. The wire was glued to heavy paper and ribs were added. The center wire that lays over the top of the ribs also provided an anchor for the disks on top the cobra heads. Linen was glued over the wire to form the front. When dry, the wire was bent to shape, and the heads built up from When dry, the cobras were given several coats of Mod Podge, a gesso-like polymer sealer. Finally, they were painted with an antique gold acrylic and polished to a metallic shine. The cobras were mounted to a 6 brass macrame ring using 1/8 diameter nylon hose clamps that were painted to match the brass. Enlargements of several closeups of Taylor wearing the headpiece suggest that that brass clips of a similar design were used on the original headpiece. Linen glued to front of frame, then bent to shape. Cobras attached to brass ring with nylon hose clamps We found no external evidence about how the tall plume at the center of the circlet, representing the goddess Maat, was constructed, either from written sources or by examining images for clues. We know that it needed to be lightweight because otherwise it would be too heavy for Taylor to bow in the final moment of the scene without it twisting off. After several experiments, we decided to use balsa wood for the shape. Balsa is very strong, and is easy to cut and shape using small saws and sand paper. We also know that it was inexpensive, readily available, and that Wah Chan often used the material.

13 templates from light plywood to the required shape, transfered the design lines from the image to the plywood, and glued wire over the lines. Then, we pressed wet embossing paper over the template and allowed it to dry. When cut to shape, the pieces were very strong and rigid. After turning the papers over and gluing them to the center balsa area, we painted the plume with antique gold acrylic and polished its surfaces to a metallic shine. The plume was mounted to the brass ring with a support structure, secured with hose clips. There is also little information on how the main body of the headdress was constructed, except what can be inferred from the auction images, and production Plume of Maat made of balsa wood and wet-pressed embossing paper. or behind-the-scenes photos. It appears to be built on a base cap We made the pattern directly from fullthat can be secured to Taylor's head (it size images of the plume, scaled from the doesn't fall off when she bows). There are auction catalog. The feather was built in two three bands that attach to the cap, and halves. This made it easier to work with than decorative tinsel and pearls attach to it at the a single piece, and enabled us to use back and sides. The uraeus attaches in the standard-width stock. The pieces were front. shaped to match the photos using various grades of sandpaper. Finally, we glued the We created full-sized images of Taylor two halves together and applied several wearing the headdress, in profile, front-on, coats of Mod Podge as sealer, except to the and from the back. Again, scale was center area, sanding lightly between coats. calculated form internal measurements on For the embossed feather design in the center area, we made negative left and right the images, and patterns were created based on them. (right) -43- Headdress images were scaled to full-size as patterns.

14 The base snoopy cap was made of black twill and fit snugly over Kathe's head. Straps sewn to the cap fasten it at the base of the skull with a buckle. A gap was left above the strap for her hair in a ponytail. Small gold feathers being attached to first band. The the three bands were made of light poster board, covered with black twill. Exposed edges were covered with bias tape. The decorations and feathers were created and attached to the bands, and then the bands were assembled into a single unit to attach to the cap. The pearl decorations on the back of the headdress were assembled of painted pearls, toothed washers and poster board disks with tiny eye screws for attachment to a gold- painted cargo net coif attached to the rear of the cap. Silver-beaded feathers being attached to second band. The tinsel chenille rope that we believe was used in the original fringe was not yet sourced in a correct diameter at the time, so we used mylar rope minitinsel instead. Both have the characteristic corkscrew pattern seen in high resolution photos of the headdress. Above: Perls and tinsel attached to mesh coif attached to headdress. Below: Detail of perl decorations. Then, the three bands assembly was mounted to the cap just ahead of the coif, and feather decorations were added to the front part of the cap. Finally, the uraes was added, mounted in the front, and the circlet and plume attached to the top of the headpiece. The plume mounting allowed it to be removed for shipping and storage. Three band assembly test fit on base cap. -44-

15 Cleopatra s Shoes At least one pair of Ms. Taylor s shoes from the role is known to exist (below, top), but they are not a pair worn with this costume. The ones worn with this costume seem to vary considerably. On her funeral bier Cleopatra is clearly wearing sandals decorated with gilt metal studs. But none of the Entrance to Rome scene photos display such footwear. Outdoors, the historical Cleopatra would not wear sandals, but shoes. Sandals were for indoor wear only. Elizabeth Taylor was a short actress at 5 3 (160cm) and was working with the much taller 6 1 (185cm) Rex Harrison. Surviving photos allowed us to see that she is wearing heels in the scene, but the shape and style of shoe seems to vary from photo to photo when they can be seen at all. (below, bottom). She does an excellent job of concealing her feet while wearing this costume! We know from research on the shooting schedule that this particular sequence began rehearsing at the start of the Italian shoot and began filming on April 13th. It was put on hold due to bad weather, and then resumed May 8th and 9th. The sections were edited together to create the completed scene for the film. Two of the better close ups of the actress s feet showing various shoe styles are shown left bottom. We elected to purchase a shoe similar to what can be seen in the black and white photo below at far left, since the shoes in the color photo appear to be standard issue pointed-toe spike heels. Ours was a platform soled shoe that had decorative toe weavings similar to the one in the photo. We gilded it ourselves with several gold colors of Lumiere metallic paint. Final Thoughts Above: Surviving Cleopatra shoe, not from the Entrance to Rome scene. Below, Two closeups of Taylor's shoes for gold ceremonial costume. Recreating this iconic piece of movie history has been a sometimes exhausting but ultimately satisfying journey. We're glad that we had a chance to work on it together, and each contribute in our own ways. Once again, we are happy to report that no marriages were harmed in the creation of this costume. Kathe Gust as "Cleopatra" in the Costume-Con 33 Historical Masquerade. Photo: Kathy Bushman Sanders. -45-

16 Selected Bibliography Barrow, David and Chang, Glen. The Life and Sculpture of Wah Ming Chang. Carmel CA: Wah Ming Chang, U.S.A., Bernstein, Matthew. Walter Wanger, Hollywood independent. Berkeley CA: University of California Press, Brodsky, Jack and Weiss, Nathan. The Cleopatra papers, a private correspondence. New York: Simon and Schuster, Cleopatra. Dir. Frank Mankiewicz. Perf. Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Elizabeth Taylor. 20th Century Fox, Gust, Philip. Elizabeth Taylor's Phoenix Cape from Cleopatra, Virtual Costumer, 2012, v.10#2 pages Sharaff, Irene. Broadway & Hollywood: costumes designed by Irene Sharaff. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., Wanger, Walter. My life with Cleopatra. New York: Bantam Books, Kathe Gust enjoys creating clothing for many historical periods, and for various sci-fi and fantasy genres. Philip Gust enjoys sci-fi and fantasy costuming, and has particular interests in props, special effects, and prosthetic makeup. He also costumes in historical periods, including Regency, Victorian, and early 20th C. Kathe Gust as "Cleopatra" showing details of the costume. Photo composition: Philip Gust. -46-