Hey guys!
So last week I went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour at Warner Brothers in Watford and absolutely loved it. We booked our tour for 15:30 and the part in the 'Great Hall' was led by a tour guide and the rest you were free to roam and explore yourself!
Some of Griffindor's costumes; Neville Longbottom's Cardigan there too. The lovely tour guide told us that on the gowns are styled differently for each film as each costume designer wants to put their own 'stamp' on the outfit.
Some of the teacher's outfits. I love how pointy McGonagall's hat is and how suave Snape's outfit is. You can see how each character's costume reflects their personality and I loved this. All of these outfits were actually worn by the actors, which particularly pleased me as I have a slight love for Alan Rickman...
These were some of the outfits for the 'Yule Ball'. I adored Hermoine's satin dress, obviously it was specifically designed for Emma Watson's figure but it suits her so well; the ruffles add an elegance to the dress as you see her dancing in the 'Goblet of Fire'.
This is a close up of some more outfits from the films. You can see how the Costume Designers choose the fabrics carefully and create amazing outfits, in comparison with a lot of films where most of the costumes can be bought, highlighting how different films can influence things like costume design you would not normally think of.
From these pictures you can see how much fashion influences things like films which, to the normal eye, you would not necessarily pick up. You can see cotton, velvet and satin for example, and outfits are more extravagant to us, not only because they are for a film, but in this case, a very individual film which doesn't represent the same type of world.
I adore these shoes. It is easy to see how current fashion can influence the outfits picked out and made by costume designers. I love there are Converse type shoes, next to some coloured leather chelsea style boots, which people would actually wear.
These were more outfits for the Goblet of Fire, such as the blue outfit worn by a French girl named Fleur. The designer would obviously know how much Paris and France have hugely created and inspired fashion. The dress and hat provide the opinion of high class and style, while making the character look gorgeous by matching her blonde hair with a blue outfit; complimenting each other.
This made me confused at first until I read why there was the same outfit 4 times. You never think about it, but in the films if there is a fight scene for example, you envisage the character actually going through the battle and damaging their clothes. It was mentioned here that 'Harry' had 4 outfits for a scene in the 'Deathly Hallows' and you can see how they have dirtied the sleeves and included rips etc.
I love the simplicity of these outfits. These are regular 'Wizards' and 'Hermione's' hoodie and denim jacket combo can be seen by people on the high street, as would 'Ron's' striped jumper.
I love how the 'Malfoy' family characters are dark and this is reflected in their outfits. In an odd way I love 'Narcissa's' gown is velvet and long, showing a more nude dress underneath, and the character of 'Draco' has a dark suit to represent how he is trying to act older and more important, like this father. Until I came on this tour, I really didn't compeltely understand how important the design element in films is.
The character of 'Lord Voldemort' has a long sort of gown/dress, but not black. As it is more a green colour this could influence his importance to stand out and be leader. I noticed this had some form of Asian influence which I found lovely, in a weird way considering the character is so bad!
'Bellatrix's' outfit has more structure too and I love the quilted effect. It is so easy to see what has influenced what the costume designer was thinking when they made these outfits.
Finally, we have 'Dolores Umbridge' who is notorious for wearing pink, having a pink office, but a bad attitude in the films. For the reasons that JK Rowling put in the books to influence the films, 'Umbridge' tries to be lovely at the start of her scenes but is seen to later not be so nice. She wears the most bright outfits of all and I love how the designers chose different shades of pink and different fabrics to exaggerate how many pink items she owns.
I know this is a bit of a different post, but I saw some of the outfits and thought as a fashion blogger it would be good to point out that fashion isn't just used on the catwalk or the high street, it is everywhere and in my eyes is so important. It can reflect your character and the designers behind the 'Harry Potter' films did incredibly well. The outfits reflect age, personality, body image and so much more.
I hope some of you will have enjoyed this post! If you are considering visiting the tour is it definitely worth going to!
love,
