Fantasy after fashion
Tina Kalivas will get to see her creations on the big screen this May, as the Australian fashion designer produced the costumes for the new Japanese film "Goemon." The movie is based on the legend of a Robin Hood-like hero and was directed by Kazuaki Kiriya, who was responsible for 2004's popular "Casshern." It would be any designer's dream to work on such a project — a high-budget film that required highly theatrical costumes.
The costumes feature an ancient-Orient-meets-Europe decadence, and Kalivas' work shows imaginative use of embroidery, pleating and texture in her breathtaking interpretations of kimono, ninja suits and samurai armor. The collaboration is the first between an Australian designer and such a large Japanese production, and Kalivas took the opportunity to present her eponymous noncostume label in Tokyo in late March.
"If I were to choose between normalcy in fashion and fantasy, I would go with fantasy, definitely," she said at the time.