Asian Influences in Costume Design

I've noticed SO much Asian influence in costume designing for a long time now. I don't know why but it seems that designers like to use it in all sorts of different cultures and settings whether modern, historical, or fantastical. So this entry is about some of the things I've noticed. First, I'm gonna cover Star Wars just to get it out of the way. There is a HUGE amount of Asian influence in Padme's costumes. Firstly, it is known that her queen makeup was influenced by traditional kabuki makeup. It's the basic white face with red accents. Most of these have been pointed out over at P.G. but I'll just put some here. First, there's the traditional Mongolian inspired one. Now compare that hairstyle to this pic of traditional Mongolian hair. And, amazingly, the woman in the pic even has Padme's cheek dots. This pic had to be an inspiration to the designer. Here's another one that I found. It's nearly identical to Padme. Then there's Padme's parade dress where the back resembles a Chinese or Japanese parasol. That one's from Memoirs of a Geisha. There's also this dress of Padme's and this dress of the queen at her funeral, which are almost identical in silhouette and styling. The beads off the headdresses are reminiscent of this headdress from Singapore. This dress and this dress, which are almost identical also except in different colors are also kimono-like in shape. (Oh, and don't ask why Natalie Portman played Corde until after she got blown up. I don't know. haha) Also, the hair shape, which is the same on both costumes, is similar to kabuki styling. Another thing I noticed is that this hairstyle, which goes with one of Padme's senate gowns in the second movie, is a sort of creative combination of kabuki styling and the traditional buns Sumo wrestlers wear. Also, the Jedi costumes are inspired by Japanese robes. There's a great page on it with reference pics at P.G. here. One last thing that I only came across today while researching for this entry. I was looking at traditional Samurai armor and came across this helmet. Remind you of anyone? Yeah, that's what I thought. :)

Okay, FINALLY moving on from star wars and going to Hellboy. Now, in the first movie, there is really only one influence and it's Hellboy's hair. It's clearly Sumo inspired. But I just watched the second Hellboy recently and I was like Holy Crap! This whole thing has Asian inspired written all over it! Even the architecture of the Troll market looks Asian. If you watch the extras on the DVD, there's a tour of the troll market. That link isn't even half of it so I encourage you to watch it if you have access to it. It's great. Del Toro spares no detail. He's amazing. Anyways, other than Hellboy's hair, there are the elven folk. There is princess Nuala, who has very Kimono-like dresses. This one is sort of a bad pic cuz it's from the side but the waist piece and the criss crossed neckline reminds me of a kimono. Oh! I found a better pic of it here. This one is my favorite of Nuala's dresses and is probably the most kimono inspired of the bunch. It even holds some resemblance of some Ao Dai dresses that I came across while researching for this entry. They're beautiful. Her brother in the picture resembles a Samurai warrior with his outfit in the pic too. His costume that most resembles a Samurai though is this one. I mean look at the similarities between that and this traditional outfit. He's even got a golden medallion on his forehead. Also, you can't tell in the pic, but in the movie's fighting sequences, you can see that Prince Nuada is wearing those poofy pants stuffed into boots like the traditional costume. (There's probably a technical term for them but right now, they are gonna be poofy pants.) Here's another pic that shows the side of the outfit and also Hellboy's Sumo bun.

Okay, next movie. A Knight's Tale. One of my favorite movies of all time although the only thing I don't like about it is the love interest, Jocelyn. She's ugly and the costume designer was on crack. It's medieval and she's got Audrey Hepburn and Asian inspired clothing and 80s dyed hair. Whatever. The point for now is the Asian influence. First there's this one. See what I mean? But the pattern on the cloth and the sleeves remind me vaguely of a Kimono. Then, there's this one, which reminds me of an Ao Dai outfit. (Am I spelling right? I don't know.) Then comes this one, which I think looks like a new twist on Ao Dai, especially with the hat. Compare the hat and the neckline to this Ao Dai costume. I'm pretty good, eh? Or maybe it's just a coincidence and the designer wasn't influenced by Asian styles at all. Oh, I thought I'd mention that Ao Dai is a Vietnamese style by the way. I wish I would've discovered Ao Dai sooner. I'm really in love with the style now. They're beautiful. I'll have to work it in to some of my sketches. ;)

Okay, now for some movies that have a more subtle Asian influence as in only one or two costumes. I came across these robes from The Other Boleyn girl and they are very kimono like in the sleeves and vaguely in the necklines. I you look at the address at the top, the woman at costumer's guide has even dubbed the robes "Chinese" so apparently I'm not the only one who noticed. Another movie is The Matrix. Neo's robe reminds me of Ao Dai clothing also. Compare the neck and the shape to this dress. Even in Spiderman, Mary Jane wears a kimono inspired dress at the parade although this is the only pic I could find but you guys probably all remember it. (I hate when they put redheads in red. It clashes unless it's done REALLY right.) Next movie is The Lord of the Rings and I believe this screen shot is from the first movie. Arwen's dress has major kimono influences. And lastly is a dress from Moulin Rouge, another one of my favorite movies. This dress is deemed "the oriental dress" because it was clearly inspired by oriental style. Here's a full body view of it although it's small. Her hat is even like a stylized rice paddy hat.

So that's that. Those are all the one's I've noticed so far. Feel free to comment and point out any other's you've found. Until next time!