THE UNITED STATES VS BILLIE HOLIDAY
Mascot
Design and production of an elephant mascot costume with the trunk that can be manipulated from the inside
For the film directed by Lee Daniels
This American biopic takes place in the 1940s and describes the tumultuous life of singer Billie Holiday. In a scene set in a cabaret, a lecherous elephant undresses the dancers with his trunk!
This costume was intended to have an uneasy appearance and reflect the papier-mâché finish of costumes of that era.
After sculpting a clay model, we reproduced it in real size with several layers of foam which we then hollowed out, and covered with reinforced fabric. The weight being distributed by a harness on the hips of the dancer inside.
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LAURENT
A small victory for this project is to have succeeded in camouflaging the “vision zone” in the elephant’s trunk, allowing the dancer to see the outside. The joint between the tissue proboscis and the rigid body is organic and barely visible.