I had seen the original Broadway version of Phantom of the Opera with Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman and I wanted to see how the movie version compared.
Quite well. Quite well indeed.
Gerard Butler made a wonderful Erik despite the critic's reviews that his disfigurement looked more like a bad case of sunburn. I found that I enjoyed both his and Emmy Rossum's voices far better than the originals.
Ahhh, but Gerard's costume ... damn, that was a good looking piece of work.
Time to call Andrea again.
This time, like the Boromir surcoat, I did some of the more estoteric materials purchasing. Andrea (as usual) had the skill, cunning and expertise to put the stuff together.
From this picture, and watching the movie in slow-motion, we figured out I'd need the following:
- Tuxedo with tails and peaked satin lapels
- Period-appropriate white linen shirt
- Black silk cravat
- Period-appropriate waistcoat in a silk brocade fabric
- Black cloak with white silk lining and high collar
- Police search gloves
- Mask (of course!)
The Tuxedo
I was able to pick up the tuxedo online for a great price. I did need to have the sleeves lengthened a bit and Andrea mentioned that the back of the collar would need to have some black silk velvet on it. So after a quick trip to the tailor, off it went off to Virginia. Andrea was also going to need the jacket to make sure the waistcoat was cut properly.
The Gloves
Seeing what Gerard was doing with gloves on, I knew these weren't your run-of-the-mill unlined leather dress gloves. They reminded me of the gloves that Ponch wore on CHiPs, so I asked a good friend of mine (a police officer) what he thought. Definitely search gloves, he said and offered to get me a pair. The ones I wound up with were called Damascus D302's - I could do anything in them! Type. Pick up change. Take out my MetroCard. They really felt like I didn't have a pair on.
(I always had problems with gloves - the fingers were always too long. After Frank got me this pair, I found that police gloves - whatever the style - tend to have stubbier fingers. Now if I need any type of glove, I order them from Quartermaster. They have great prices, my hands stay warm, and I don't have to take off my gloves when I need to do stuff!)
The Shirt, The Cravat and the Cloak
Andrea was doing the work on the cravat and shirt and cloak, but she was having some problems finding the right material for the waistcoat. Working in NYC near the Fashion District does have some benefits - so off exploring I went!
This was a bit harder than I expected. A lot of the shops (and there were literally hundreds of them) sold wholesale only, so my quest was to find a shop that 1) had the material and 2) sold retail.
The Waistcoat
On Day 2 of the Great Waistcoat Fabric Quest, I found N.Y. Elegant Fabrics on 40th Street. This store was HUGE!!! I asked one of the salespeople about brocaded fabric and was directed to an area of the store that was literally the size of a small auditorium. After about 40 minutes of going through bins, bales, bolts and whatnot, I was about to give up. But wait! At the very bottom of two piles, I came across two fabrics that were incredible!
The first fabric had the exact same design as the vest in the picture, but was a creamier brown. The other fabric was a vivid match to the vest in the picture but in a solid shot silk of bronze, copper and black. I really couldn't decide which one I wanted. For the price, I got three yards of both. Andrea decided to do two waistcoats since she couldn't decide which one she liked better either!
The Mask
Ebay had a number of masks, but again, a lot of them looked cheap and went on with elastic. Yecch. Googling found me XtremeDesignFX. These folks specialize in Batman-type latex costumes and prosthetic appliances. Lo and behold, there was a perfect Phantom mask! So I ordered it with some adhesive and remover.
Done! Of course, now it was up to Andrea to work her magic. I told her that there was absolutely no rush on this outfit and I was secure in the knowledge that when it was completed, I'd have no complaints.
Construction
Andrea's attention to detail is AMAZING and the fact that she has a theater background is incalcuable. Buttons for example. The linen shirt she was making for the costume has real mother-of-pearl buttons. Since they didn't have plastic buttons in the 1870's, the shirt doesn't get them! The cloak was also a work of love, as well as art. In the scenes where Gerard is wearing a cloak, the entire front of his outfit is showing. But how is it fastened? Andrea figured it out! The cloak collar strings go DOWN the front of the tuxedo, BEHIND the lapels, AROUND the armpits and TIE in back. Even Garry couldn't figure out how she did it until he saw it! Ingenious!Another success for me and Twin Roses!
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