 |
| Costume Designer Trish Summerville, recipient of CDG Award for Best Costume 2012 for her work on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Image from supermodelblogger.com. |
Costume designer and stylist, Trish Summerville just got her big break. As a costume designer there is no bigger honor than to be recognized at the Costume Desginer's Guild Awards. This past award season Summerville recieved the award for Excellence in Contemporary Film for the American adaptation for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Her fresh vision has made her the up and comning costume designer to take notice.
This is the opening frame to Costume Designer Trish Summerville's personal website. This is a typical setup for an onset working rolling rack. This rack is housing several of Rooney Mara's changes for the character Lisbeth Salander. Image found at trishsummerville.com.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo/H&M Collaboration:
A recent trend is for high profile films to partner with budget fashion venues. These collections are inspired by characters from the films to build hype as well as gathering more revenue and visibility. For example, Trish Summerville and H&M collaborated to create a collection based on the character Lisbeth Salander, the archetypal ingenue. The result is a “stylishly gritty” yet “feminine-feeling” collection.
“We put a lot of aged-in washes and finished, which goes along the lines of the Salander character. In the film, her clothes are quite extreme. They’re really worn down, they’re dirty,” Summerville said in an exclusive interview, “So for us, it was taking that kind of concept and giving it more of a realistic feel.”
The line consists of Salander’s “tribal-styled earrings” ($3.95), hoodies ($29.95), leather boots ($59.95), and leather biker jackets ($199). The line hit the rack on December 14th one week prior to the release of the film (vogue.com).
Does this trend take away from the on screen character? It depends on the success of the collection and the character. In Summerville’s case the H&M collection sold out within an hour. Her background as a stylist for music videos, commercials, editorials, and films allowed her to have extensive experience and a key insight into building character. She also has a killer instinct for what will create demand and buzz.
Summerville's work as a costume designer showcases fully realized characters from the Steig Larrson trilogy. They maintain the essence of the characters that are described in the books which she has successfully adapted for the big screen. Her work is incedibly relevant to my future as a designer. Graduating with a Fashion BFA and the desire to pursue a career in costume, her success gives me hope that I will also be able to bridge the gap and have a hand in fashion as well as costume.