A quick backstory:
Jonny – creative director at Chicken Fruit – made a short film in 2018. Lindsey – producer at Chicken Fruit – helped.
For the film, which is called Meteorlight, we commissioned a song from singer/songwriter Aislin Evans to play over the credits. But then we were lucky enough to join the #Animation2018 group led by the BFI and BBC Four. This was amazing and was instrumental in making Meteorlight as good as it was. But it meant that we couldn’t use the song due to the time constraints of being aired on the telly.
We loved the song too much to abandon it completely. We decided it was strong enough to stand on its own, so we planned a music video to tie in with Meteorlight as a companion piece. We wanted it to be live-action, starring Aislin herself, but also wanted it to evoke Meteorlight’s universe without being a direct copy. One way to do that was with Aislin’s costume.
The characters in Meteorlight don’t wear traditional clothes, but use coats and capes to show status. The main character of the film wears a fluffy cape, representing the cosy, coddled life of being the factory owner’s child. That cape was one of the most popular aspects of the film (much to Jonny’s bemusement, because it was fairly easy to make), so we wanted something similar for Aislin to wear.
With this vague idea, we enlisted the help of costume designer Jessica Wild. To show her what sort of thing we were thinking of, we tried to put together a pinterest board of inspiration. But nothing really gave the vibe that we had in our head, which was “the coat from Meteorlight, but make it fashion”.
A screenshot of our Pinterest board
With pinterest failing us, Jess and Jonny put their heads together. Both of them bashed out pages and pages of sketches of possible designs. Jess even mocked up some mini shape versions on the top of a spray tan bottle so the fashion-illiterate losers at Chicken Fruit could picture what real-world versions of the sketches would look like.
Spray tan pictures in hand, Jonny mocked up a page of six final choices. Both Jess and Jonny picked their favourite: both of them thought the yellow one was best. With this glorious synchronisation of the artists, the design was born.
At the time, Jess was based in York and Jonny and Lindsey were based in London, but both Jess and Lindsey’s mums live in Greater Manchester. So, under the pretext of spending time with their parents, they met up in Manchester to source the materials.
With Jonny on FaceTime to make sure the fabric choices were in line with his Creative Vision™, we stumbled on the main fabric of the cape only twenty minutes in to our mission.
We had known that the colour of the cape didn’t matter overly much, given that the music video was to be in black and white (like Meteorlight is), so the navy-blue fabric was perfect. We had also known we wanted something with a bit of shine, so it would catch the light (light is very important in the Meteorlight universe). We discussed materials like faux leather, suede or silk, or something with a highlighted hexagonal pattern (hexagons are also important in the Meteorlight universe). The slight sparkle in the navy material achieved this aim super well – and had the added bonus of looking like starlight; appropriate when a main character of Meteorlight is a glowing space rock.
The (faux) fur was also not a problem; Jess was able to pick some up at a fabric shop local to where she lived. The main issue we had was the giant button.
Giant button
As mentioned, hexagons are fairly important in the Meteorlight universe, so Jonny was set on replicating the hexagonal button of the original cape. But two-inch white hexagonal buttons are not particularly popular, so it was difficult to source one. There were smaller hexagonal buttons, or bigger circular or octagonal buttons, but nothing that matched the Vision™.
Jessica considered cutting a hexagon out of MDF with a laser cutter, drilling button holes and painting it. She considered making a hexagon out of a different material and covering it with white fabric, but we didn’t think that would achieve the shine we were after. BUT THEN, she found a large circular shell button and had the genius idea of sanding it down into a hexagon shape. Big? check. White? check. Hexagon? check. Shiny? check. We had our button.
Jess was incredibly communicative throughout the project, sending us updates at every stage and being very patient with our stupid questions. She consulted us about lining fabrics (we didn’t even know you needed lining fabrics) and what we’d like as a trim (“what’s a trim?” said we).
She also sent us the final version with weeks to spare and had someone nearby who would be able to make any adjustments once Aislin tried it on. (Jonny tried it on first and we had a little panic that it looked silly, then we remembered that Jonny is five inches taller than Aislin and has significantly broader shoulders.
Jonny in the cape
Once Aislin tried it, two weeks ahead of the shoot, all our worries vanished. It fit perfectly, and we were so happy with how it looked.
Aislin wearing the cape on the day of the shoot
Working with Jess was an absolute dream and we’d wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone looking for a costume designer. She didn’t shy away from our unique ideas and was innovative and enthusiastic when our demands were beyond the realms of traditional haberdasheries.
Here’s the cape in action in Chicken Fruit’s first music video, WITNESS.
