For school, I did a project showcasing the reoccurring roles women play in the stories we consume. In many films, I find these two-character types (and many others) repeating themselves. With this project, I aimed to show how the costumes in a film help display these archetypes. Different colours, styles, fabrics and techniques can present levels of personality to an audience.
The Femme Fatale
Another term is a sex symbol. This is a woman who is sexually driven and attractive to men. She is an object that distracts a man from his goals. However, this woman’s goal is to be in some type of relationship. Her strengths are seduction and being physically attractive. She has a desire to please at the risk of losing her own identity. The problem is she rarely has a fully formed identity. In films starring Femme Fatales, the writers do not attempt to expand on her personality. Some writers today are trying to change this by having a woman embrace her sexuality and be a notable character to the story.
However, traditionally many of these female characters have little dialogue and only appear on the screen for a short amount of time. Often as the one-night stands or the pretty girl at the bar, we do not learn her occupation, interests or sometimes her name. This archetype has been stretched and played with over the years now it might not be so obvious. The woman might be the nagging girlfriend that wants her man to stay home, keeping him from his job or the situation. That will be her purpose throughout the entire story personal details will be left out.
Femme Fatales will be wearing revealing clothing to accentuate their sexuality. This look is a black close-fitted lined dress with princess seams, evening-length with a slit and a side zipper. I wanted this look to show lots of skin but remain classy, this archetype is timeless and can still be seen in modern-day. The slit up the leg was a flirty touch to make the dress more revealing enhancing the effect. Black was the best colour to choose; it symbolizes oppression, menace, evil, elegance, and mystery; all these traits appear in Femme Fatales. The fabric is crepe. It’s flowy and lightweight, tracing the body better, putting more emphasis on the movement and outlining her figure.
The Damsel in Distress
She is a woman seen in many superhero and action films. She is a childlike woman who often lets others handle the details of her life. She is often in danger and in need of rescuing. For this look, I tried to change my makeup as well as poses to convey the difference in personalities. While the Femme Fatale was to showcase how some films only portray women as sexual objects, this look was to showcase how films depict women as helpless or fragile. This dress is a close-fitting, lined dress with a shaped bodice, made with stable knit fabric. It has a flared skirt with a godet and back closed with ten eyelets and cording. Cording was also put around the waist for detail. The back is restraining like the character who is trapped or restrained in some way. This dress is tight to show femininity but has a large skirt which gives it a princess feel. I used white fabric to symbolize innocence and purity.
I submitted this project for my senior year high school art gallery and the Dalhousie Fountain School of Performing Arts Scholarship in Costume Studies which I have received four times.
