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Paola focused her recently completed thesis on the use of costume in Baz Luhrmann's films in order to highlight their importance. In July of this year, she was appointed costume designer for the JYM theatre company, where she produced costumes for a cast of 30 for the musical, 'Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat'. She will be working on their next production, commencing in January, for 'Fame'. Paola is currently completing an internship at the National Gallery of Victoria in the Department of International Fashion and Textiles, which she commenced in September.
Ruffled layers of can-can skirts explode onto the screen of Moulin Rouge. Skirts flip thigh-high, exposing coloured petticoats, suspender belts, lace panties, glimpses of derriere, and the sensationalism and shock that characterised the Moulin Rouge. Each of Luhrmann's 'Red Curtain' films, "Moulin Rouge", "Strictly Ballroom" and William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", use costume to create thrilling realities in the style that Luhrmann has dubbed 'Red Curtain' style. Luhrmann highlights the importance of costume, as he uses it to enhance the meaning and visual appeal of his films. Luhrmann uses bricolage, which is a technique that uses a combination of historical references and cinematic icons refigured in his costumes, alongside spectacle, in order to make his costumes both entertaining and meaningful.
Each costume, scrutinised by the camera, fragmented and fetishised, displayed from a distance and fit into the bounds of narrative, character and story, rise to the challenge and continue to hold important meaning for the text. This paper explores Luhrmann's use of costume and how they contribute meaning to his Red Curtain films, based on my thesis 'The Uses of Theatricality and Performance in the Costumes of the Red Curtain films', completed as a component of the Bachelor of Arts Honours degree, Department of Visual Culture, Monash University.
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