Black Swan

On Saturday night I had a chilled one and stayed in with friends and watched movies. Black Swan started the night and OH.WOW. What a spectacular film. It was genius! I know Im behind in watching this and the rest of the world has already seen it but it was so worth the wait. Natalie Portman IS the Black Swan and the actress captures the mind set of tehe character beautifully - although hopefully not too much!
Swan Lake is probably my favorite ballet production and one that I can watch over and over without getting bored. Infact I think it gets better each time. If I am to go again any time soon though, I think I will watch it in a whole new light. Behind the gorgeous tutus and artificial smiles are real, dedicated, do anything for their career girls who live sleep and breathe their art.

The costume design in this Darren Aronofsky-directed film was reported upon in Feburarys edition of ELLE UK. Creating pieces for a movie based in a world of mirrors and stages has to capture the ballet, live performance world in an on screen representation! Talk about pressure!
Sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy are designers for label Rodarte and took on the project on, drawing from a wide landscape of inspiration including their own S/S 11 collection. Ideas came from research into Anna Pavlova's backstage images from The Dying Swan by New York City Ballet in 1970 -1980 (the real Swan Lake production) as well as Degas sculptures. They describe the overall theme of the film to be 'brutal yet beautiful' and tried to portray that in the costumes, staining the practise tutu to show years of use.