Alexa loves... Athens

The original A Midsummer Nights Dream play begins in Athens. I thought this would be a good research point for me to look into when designing for Hermia and Helena as they are both from Athens.

I started off by looking at the shapes of dresses. 

They were usually draped and simply shaped so as you can see I sketched one of my own but shortened it to give it a modern twist. 

I also looked at ancient anthens vases. The shapes of them gave me ideas for the shapes of dresses. 

The patterns on them were inspired by Ancient anthens patterns which could be used to decorate things like vases.

The beautiful long columbs inspired me to create a dress for Helena tall statuesque figure with a mix of patterns and drapery.

Here I have modernised the ancient Athens style designing a culotte jumpsuit as it would still look like a dress but it would be a bit more practical for the actor so they don't have to worry about the dress coming up.