Special Section: Costumes & Makeup Queen of the Jungle Stages St. Louis went regal for its version of The Jungle Book By John Inchiostro The finished cap, our end result. In approaching costume designs for the Stages St. Louis production of Disney s The Jungle Book last summer, I looked at productions of the play, the Disney-animated feature and the real animals. Rudyard Kipling wrote his stories for an English-speaking audience, but the stories took place in exotic India which is why I wanted the costumes to reflect an English-idealized India. Then, our artistic director shared what he had in mind for the character of Shere Kahn, the tiger villain. Unlike the Disney feature, he proposed casting the character as a female, inspired by the Wilhelmina Slater character on the TV series Ugly Betty a tailored, puttogether, powerful Queen of the Jungle, with maybe a rhinestone or two. In designing her costume and headpiece, I first designed a tailored Nehru jacket, Jodhpur-style pants, all in oranges and golds, with a lot of gold trim and "orangier" tiger fur. The headpiece posed another problem. I did not want kitty-cat ears on a headband. Instead, I wanted to get some white around the face of the actress, so the audience s attention would be drawn there. I decided on a pleated, heart-shaped design, modeled after a Hindu statue I had at home the headpiece would frame the face of the actress, much like the white tufts of hair around a tiger s face. I wanted it to look like a crown or ceremonial headpiece, not an animal hood. The list of materials I used is in the sidebar, and if you follow these steps, you should be able to build a headpiece of your own. MATERIALS NEEDED Buckram 19-gage milliner s wire Head block or Styrofoam head Thread or hymark White fusible interfacing Commercial black and white bias White chiffon or twinkle Gold braid White gimp Fabric-Tac Sewing machine T-pins Pushpins or rubber bands Spring clothes pins Gold filigrees, beads and jewels Flat elastic
Step 1 Wet and stretch the buckram over a head block or styrofoam head. You can use pushpins or rubber bands. I use three layers of buckram and then rubber bands on a wood head block covered with plastic wrap. Step 1 Step 2 After the buckram has dried, cut the desired shape. I cut a teardrop skullcap shape. Wire the edge of the hat with milliner s wire, using either a long whip stitch by hand or the widest zig-zag setting on a sewing machine. (Milliner s wire is a heavy wire that is wrapped with thread and can be purchased at most millinery supply stores.) Step 2
Step 3 Stretch and pin tiger fur to hat and stitch. Step 3 Step 4 Apply black bias on the inside of the skull cap, and flip the raw edge to the right side of the hat. From the inside of the skull cap, stitch the black bias in the ditch (i.e., the crease where the two fabrics meet). Then trim the extra bias from the right side. Step 4 20 January 2009 www.stage-directions.com
Step 5 Using Fabric-Tac, apply gold braid over your raw edge and stitch line. Step 5-B Step 5-A www.stage-directions.com January 2009 21
Step 6 Cut the two face crescents like parentheses ( ) using two layers of buckram stitched together. At this point, you re going to need your fusible interfacing. Fusible interfacing is a light fabric with a layer of heat-activated glue on one side. When that side is ironed on to another piece of fabric, it sticks. To hide the weave of the buckram, take some white, commercialcotton fusible interfacing and iron it on one side of each face piece. That side, with the fusible ironed on it, will be the inside or frontside of each face piece. Don t wire these pieces yet, so they ll be easier to handle under the machine later. Step 6 Step 7 Step 7 Gather or pleat white chiffon (or twinkle) to the frontside of the face pieces the fusible side and stitch down on each edge. (You can do this by hand or machine.) Be sure to cut your chiffon at least an inch wider than the widest part of your cresent shape and double the length of the crescent. When stitching down each edge, run a gathering stitch on both sides of the length of the chiffon and fit it to the frontside (the fusible side). Make sure you pull the chiffon tight, from width to width, and pin it all the way around. You should have extra fabric all the way around the cresents and that fabric should completely cover the frontside of each crescent (the fusible side). 22 January 2009 www.stage-directions.com
Step 8 For the backside of each crescent the side without the fusible or chiffon cover it with tiger fur and stitch around that as well. Next, carefully stitch milliner s wire around the edges of the face pieces. Step 8 Step 9 Apply black bias to the outside curve, and white bias to the inside curve, from the fur side, and flip the raw edges of both colors of the bias to the gathered or pleated side. Stitch in the ditch as you did with the cap of the hat and trim extra bias off. Glue white gimp over your raw edge and stitch line, keeping it close to the edge. Step 9 www.stage-directions.com January 2009 23
Step 10 Using Hymark or button thread, attach the face pieces to the cap, positioning them so that the lower points will curve under the performer s chin. Step 10 Step 11 To build the ears, cut two 7-inch-by-7-inch pieces of the tiger fur. Fold point to point and stitch (Pic 11-A), then repeat (Pic 11-B). Gather the long straight side, with all the raw edges, and pull it tight (Pic 11-C). The result should be a cup or, as I was taught, a milliner s leaf. You can glue a small tuft of marabou or white fur into the cup if you like. Sew the ears to the cap, behind the cresents as far apart as possible, to give the impression of a tiger s broad head. Step 11-B Step 11-C Step 11-A 24 January 2009 www.stage-directions.com
Step 12 Stitch a small piece of elastic (dyed to the skin tone of the actor) to the lower points of the face pieces, to fit under the actor s chin. Finally, apply any embellishments you like. I chose small gold beads around the face pieces, gold filigrees and jewels to make our Shere Khan look like a true Queen of The Jungle. Gold beads placed around the face pieces Add gold filigrees and jewels for accents www.stage-directions.com January 2009 25