PAYETTE’s fashion show team selected The Story of Ferdinand, a fictional work by author Munro Leaf, as the inspiration for this year’s IIDANE Fashion Show entry. In the story, Ferdinand the Bull is a bull who would much rather spend time smelling the flowers than participate in bullfights. Led by the Interior Design group and partnered with Bentley Carpets, Forbo, and Ritz Associates, we brought our vision to the runway.
Components of the bull costume were constructed from leather and felt by Ritz Associates, pine rosin by Forbo, and carpet yarns and carpet backing by Bentley. During initial brainstorming sessions, the team was drawn to creating visual contrast between different components of the costume. The vibrancy of the flowers against a simple, white bull costume provided a pop of color to draw the eyes. The faceted form of the bull’s head was distinct from the softly constructed body, providing fluid movements on stage.
The team delved into a series of investigations on the use of material, color and texture for the costume. The base of the bull’s pants and jacket were constructed using carpet backing from Bentley Carpets. Over the course of several weeks, copious amounts of time were spent creating thousands of tassels! By the end of production, we were a tassel making factory.
Slowly but surely, tassels were created and attached to the costume. At the same time, team members utilized the laser cutter to create flowers from felt by Ritz Associates for the bull’s base costume and props. The team was curious about incorporating a “wow factor” into the costume to make it more interactive. In response, amazing, moving flowers were created. When the model pulled on the string attached to the flower, the petals opened to reveal a vibrant interior scattered with more flowers inside. Smaller felt flowers were attached to the hem of the pants and scattered throughout the costume.
To bridge the connection between the soft-slowing base of the bull’s body and the faceted bull head, the team created a tassel collar. The material of the carpet yarn used on the collar incorporated and blended yarns that were used on the body of the bull’s costume and the head. The collar acted as both a formal and material transition between the two key components of the costume. Adjacent components of the bull’s costume were test fit through production to both gauge fit and overall composition.
For the bull’s head, team members created the base formwork, which was constructed with chipboard and leather from Ritz Associates. The greatest task was translating a 3D model in Rhino of the bull head into a constructable net that we could laser cut. After a few test trials, with the team devised a method utilizing tabs to connect major facets of the head to translate a 2D material into a 3D form.
Over the course of a few evenings, team members pieced together the bull head from the laser cut chipboard pieces. Once the chipboard base was reinforced with A LOT of superglue, leather from Ritz Associates was applied to create the base for tassels to be applied. Throughout this process, the bull’s head was tested by the model for its fit and durability. The team quickly realized how fragile the head would be and that extra care would need to be taken during its transportation to the venue and final application before hitting the runway.
Pine rosin from Forbo was used to create the bull horns. Several tests were conducted of the horns at a miniature scale before moving on to the life-size pieces. First, team members tested pouring the rosin into a milled foam mold, but the rosin cracked during removal. They then tried different releasing agents like Vaseline and oil to aid in the final removal process, but the pieces still cracked. Finally, they discovered that creating a 3D printed base for stability allowed the rosin to be melted and poured to create a stable horn. The horns were attached to the bull’s head using post screws. The holes for the screws were pre-drilled into the base before the rosin was poured.
Final touches were added to the costume including the creation of hooves for the model to wear over his own shoes for the show. A Flower wand for the Bull to hold on stage and additional floral details to the costume completed the costume. The team had a wonderful time working together to create PAYETTE’s vision of Ferdinand the Bull!
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