Oh the GOWNS!!!

Hey there fellow Mack-inistas!  So the Oscars were on last night... clearly.  Congrats to all the winners and to those who didn't take home gold I say, "Meet me at 1am behind the 7-11 on Route 14.  I got a guy, he takes care of things.” 

My favorite part of the ceremony is the red carpet.  Seeing the stars seated doesn’t do the gowns justice!

Nothing better than putting the preshow on, muting the volume and pouring yourself a tall glass of Franzia with some Michael Bublé in the background.

Here is a quick run down of some of my favorite looks from the big night. (Click the picture to make the bigger... who am I kidding?  You know how this works.  Go on with yo bad self!)

Glenn Close – Zac Posen

Octavia Spencer – Tadashi Shoji

Alexandra Edenborough – Roberto Cavalli

Milla Jovovich – Elie Saab

Jennifer Lopez – Zuhair Murad

Leslie Mann – Roberto Cavalli

Judy Greer - Monique Lhuillier

Whose gown did you enjoy?

-Philip Estrada

Simply Red

This illustration was submitted for a concept and presentation class project back in college.  The class was basically a sculpture class to help one think "outside of the box".  The assignment was to "illustrate a book."  How we chose to do that and which book was entirely up to us.  I was already accepted into the Fashion Design Department at that time so I submitted high fashion paper dolls as my "sculpture". 

The book I illustrated was the play 'Titus Andronicus' by William Shakespeare.  Honestly I was obsessed with Julie Taymore's movie "Titus" so I redesigned costumes for all the characters.  This is Tamora: Queen of the Goths.  How epic would this look on stage? 

This costume would be for the scene in which she delivers an astounding soliloquy where she swears her revenge on Titus and his family during the celebration of her marriage to the new emperor.  The powerful and bold red color would match the tone of the speech.  The bold jewelry, hair style and tribal tattooing makes reference to her old life as queen of a "barbaric" people.

When Mr. Mackie takes on another costume design job I would love to be right there beside him along the way.  I could research costume history, swatch fabrics, scan sketches into photoshop for digital corrections, go on coffee runs; my uses are endless!

I look forward to getting started!

-Philip Estrada