MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM
COSTUME DESIGNER
RENDERINGS
DESIGN CONCEPT
As a conceptual costume design project, I took the classical Shakespearian play Midsommer and adapted it to my Mexican heritage. In this passion project of mine, I yearned for a diverse perspective that dismantled the traditional Western context this show is normally placed in.
In my research and analysis of the play, I intend to create two separate worlds that felt independent but connected. I pictured the Athenian court and the lovers to be set in a 1960s Mexico City, featuring odes to the Aztec style in color. The fairy kingdom and the workers or mechanicals I set in the Tenochtitlan, located just outside of central Mexico City, the ancient capital of the Aztec empire. I wanted to make a conscious effort to combat common ideologies that suggest modern Mexican dress is more sophisticated. A wardrobe highly influenced by European colonizers I aimed to appear duller than the Aztec civilization that thrived in the time before the arrival of European explorers. My research and reflection of Aztec characters in the play are ornate to exude the prominent presence and sophistication of the culture.