Fashion In Film: Brave (2012)

Director: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, Steve Purcell
Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly
Costume Design: Connie Chung

Two of my loves together: Sewing + Animation

I first wrote about it here regarding the movie Coraline and just recently read this fascinating article from the blog Clothes On Film about how the costumes of Pixar's Brave were created using computer simulation and their industry's form of "sewing".

Connie Chung, Simulation Supervisor on Brave:

"Basically, at Pixar, what we do is model the garments in 3D and then we have a proprietary software we use to essentially sew them all together. {...} There are sometimes features like the frills on Merida’s dress or her sleeves; we wanted to use the traditional techniques of gathering so we still “sewed” them on."

Yes, and to be aware of those gathering techniques, the studio actually hired digital tailoring artists who have previous experience in traditional costume design and dress making or have taken sewing classes in order to know how fabric weighs and drapes. Most definitely a skill that would be invaluable when modeling with wool tartans I expect.

Step 1. Costume design sketch



Step 2. Digital "sewing" pattern for Merida's dress!



Step 3. Garment fully realized.

Also related and equally as fascinating is this story on Babble about the clothing process and this article from FX Guide on rendering the ferociously curly hair of Merida, the lead character and the realistic fur of the animals in the film.

Images: Courtesy of Disney Pixar

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