A Woman to Know: Eiko Ishioka
She turned the queen into a peacock. Literally, a peacock. You can see her from a mile away. — Tarsem Singh
(image via Wikimedia)
Even if you don't know Eiko's name, you know her work — the vampiric capes in Francis Ford Coppola's "Dracula"; the dynamic costumes special-made for Julie Taymor's "Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark" on Broadway; a myriad of artistic creations swirling through the air at Cirque du Soleil; the coterie of crested ballgowns in "Mirror, Mirror," for which she won a posthumous Academy Award.
She didn't just work on stage or in film. She also art directed for Miles Davis album designs and Björk music videos, even consulting for the opening ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics.
Her work doesn't ask to be understood — it asks to be noticed.
Case in point: in 1988, she made a commercial in which Faye Dunaway, all in black, eats a hardboiled egg.
That's it.
That's the whole commercial.
Add to your library list:
Eiko by Eiko (Eiko Ishioka)
Eiko on Stage (Eiko Ishioka)
Read more:
The Image Maker (W Magazine)
Eiko Ishioka was the iconic costume designer behind 'Dracula,' 'The Fall' and the Beijing Olympics (Vox)
Eiko Ishioka, Multifaceted Designer and Oscar Winner, Dies at 73 (The New York Times)
Trailblazer, Provocateur, Revolutionary (UCLA Library)
See more:
Eiko Ishioka Papers (LA Archivists Collective)
Eiko Ishioka's Otherworldly Creations (The New York Times)
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