Kurt and Bart Go In Depth With Cinna's Sketchbook

We've loved the scene where Katniss receives Cinna's sketchbook since we read Mockingjay, and seeing it in the movie dazzled us. In an article with Time, costume designers for the film Kurt and Bart go in depth with the sketches they contributed to make Cinna's sketchbook a reality.

Revolutions often come with a uniform, from the pantalons of the French sans-culottes to Che Guevara’s military fatigues. So when Katniss Everdeen joins the uprising in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1, she has to dress the part.

Mockingjay is already on digital HD and comes out on DVD/Blu-ray on Friday, and to mark the occasion, the movie’s costume directors have shared their drawings of Katniss’s battle outfit (six of which are being released here for the first time). Design team Kurt and Bart say they took inspiration from the armor collection at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as historical depictions of Joan of Arc. The result is this sketchbook, depicted in the film as belonging to Katniss’s stylist, Cinna.

The designers say creating the outfit through that character’s eyes was a helpful approach to the process. “He knew [Katniss] was to become not only an actual on-the-ground leader of a rebellion,” says Kurt, “but also the symbol of the revolution. Symbol and soldier was our mantra.” 

Kurt: In this drawing you can see one of the earlier versions of the shoulder armor which was a bit more stylized. The asymmetrical breast plate was informed by the gear worn in the Japanese martial art of archery Kyudo. We gave all of these hard armored parts a very subtle sheen of iridescent blue back which referenced the Mockingjay bird. The jacket itself was built almost like a corset with a woven maze of nylon webbing at the waist that when zipped gave Jen an even smaller waist.

More under the cut!

Catching Fire Costume Illustrations!

Really cool article from FrockTalk about Phillip Boutte, a costume illustrator who just so happens to have been doing the illustrations for Catching Fire costumes! If any of you Hunger Games fans out there have a passion for costume concept art, read the in-depth article about Boutte: what he does, how he does it, and how exactly he got to where he is.

Another sketch in this article that was revealed was this President Snow "Victor's Village visit" look:

Now, we have seen this look in stills and know that he wears this at his mansion quite possibly for the Quarter Quell announcement scene. But in this sketch it is labeled as "Victor's Village visit". Either Snow wears this outfit during the big scene in Katniss' house or they changed it to his appearance at his mansion. Quite possibly both? I guess we'll have to wait until November 22nd to find out.

Read the article HERE!

5 Things You Should Know About The Hunger Games Costume Tour

We've got quite a year ahead of us, Hunger Games fans! Catching Fire buzz has just now begun, (not to mention award season) and we are getting crazy excited for it all. But there is one event that is happening all throughout this next year and we DO NOT want you to miss it. The Hunger Games costumes are going on a nationwide tour, ending in an auction at New York Comic Con. Last Saturday we saw a sneak preview of the costumes at The Hollywood Show, which really got us excited for this tour.

So what's new this time around? We got an even bigger sneak peek at what's to come in this costume tour, so here are our FIVE things you should know about Blacksparrow Auction's Hunger Games Costume Tour:

Katniss' final interview dress!

1. Blacksparrow Auctions has ALL the costumes from the first film. Every tour stop will have about 10-20 costumes, but know that they are choosing from literally EVERYTHING.

2. The AMAZING detail. Folks, there are things about these costumes that you can't even hope to notice on film. They are detailed in ways that are indeed true to the books, and some even in ways you did not expect.

3. I'm sure you are thinking that you probably aren't going to be able to own a piece of the first Hunger Games film because dude, you're not a millionaire. WRONG! This auction will have something for everyone. They are not auctioning off just a few outfits, but the whole shebang. Odds are (see what I did there?) you can probably get your hands on something for a decent price.

4. More stops are likely to be announced in the future! Don't give up hope if you don't live near any of the cities already signed up for the costume tour.

5. This is a one time opportunity! These costumes are going for auction and they'll likely never be seen again. To be in the presence of these finely crafted costumes is unreal. If you have the chance to see this, we highly recommend you take it.


NOTE: To get up-to-date news on the costume tour, follow Blacksparrow Auctions on Facebook!

Tour dates as of now:

Seattle, WA - Emerald City Comic Con - March 1-3

Chicago, IL - C2E2 - April 26-28

New York - New York Comic Con - October 10-13

Press release for Costume tour

I'm Peacekeeper Courtney and I approve this message.

Hunger Games Costumes at The Hollywood Show

Do you live in L.A? Come on down to The Hollywood Show convention THIS WEEKEND at the Westin Hotel by LAX.

If you are thinking of heading down there this weekend, you might wanna show up tomorrow (Sunday) as they are going to add Peeta's baker outfit to the collection. This morning they had Effie's reaping outfit, Katniss' reaping dress, her hunting outfit, and Haymitch's suit (that he wears in The Capitol).
Black Sparrow Auctions has many other costumes that they will auction off when the tour concludes which means that every stop will probably have a different set of costumes.

Tickets for The Hollywood Show are $20 and available at the door. Parking is $7 FYI.
We will have more information about the costumes later this week!

The Hollywood Show website

The Hunger Games Costumes Go On Tour!

The Hunger Games costumes are going on tour! Starting in L.A. this week, it will move onto Seattle, Chicago, and end up at New York Comic Con followed by an auction. This means this may be your only chance to see the costumes in person!


Costume Tour
L.A. - The Hollywood Show - GET TICKETS - January 11-13

Seattle, WA - Emerald City Comic Con - March 1-3

Chicago, IL - C2E2 - April 26-28

New York - New York Comic Con - October 10-13

Haxbee, Inc. announces the Hunger Games Costumes
Exhibit &Auction. The exhibit encompasses original
screen-worn costumes worn by Jennifer Lawrence as
“Katniss,” Josh Hutcherson as “Peeta,” Elizabeth Banks
as “Effie,” Stanley Tucci as “Caesar,” Liam Hemsworth
as “Gale,” Woody Harrelson as “Haymitch,” Lenny
Kravtiz as “Cinna,” Donald Sutherland as “President
Snow,” Wes Bentley as “Seneca,” and many, many
more.

To kick off the tour, Haxbee and its subsidiary,
Blacksparrow Auctions, will be providing a special
sneak preview at The Hollywood Show in Los Angeles
from January 11 to 13. The Hollywood Show, a popular movie and television memorabilia convention that features over a hundred celebrities at each of its four annual shows, will be held at the Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel.

Additional dates and locations will be announced in the future. The exhibit winds up in New York City, where ReedPOP--the largest producer of pop culture events in the world—will host a live
auction at New York Comic Con. Over 200+ costumes will be on the auction block. Interestedbidders will be able to bid live in-person, by telephone, via absentee, and on the Internet as facilitated by iCollector. A print catalog will be available for purchase in April.

Haxbee, Inc. and its Blacksparrow Auctions subsidiary have a collective number of 80 years’ experience dealing with Hollywood memorabilia and collectibles. For more information about the company and the Hunger Games Costumes Exhibit & Auction, visit haxbee.com.

Judianna Makovsky Costuming Challenges

Another interview with Hunger Games costume designer, Judianna Makovsky!

MTV: How much did you know about "The Hunger Games" before Gary Ross came calling?
Judianna Makovsky: I had not read them, I have to admit. I hadn't even heard of them. But Gary Ross had called me, and his kids loved them, and he said, "I really want to do this movie." I was on another movie set in Shreveport, Louisiana. He said, "You have to go get it," and I said, "It's 10 o'clock at night." He said, "You have to get it first thing in the morning. You have to read it." I'm like, "OK." And then I was sending him images every day so he could start thinking. They were talking to several directors, and he really wanted to do it. It was great to start that early with him — trying to find images that were useful to him.
MTV: I have to imagine reading the series and Suzanne Collins' vivid descriptions were an evocative experience for an artist like you.
Makovsky: I have to say, I try to read everything like a fan, but I also read it as a costume designer, and I go, "Oh my god. How do you do that?" Also, I was lucky enough to have a meeting with Suzanne, and a lot of things that are in the written word do not translate well to film. Lucky for me, she understood that and knew that and said, "Do what you need to do. If you think it's not going to translate, I understand." And she was great about it.
MTV: Did you show her any of your drawings?
Makovsky: At that point, if was fairly early. We had very few. We had already done mood boards for the districts and where we wanted to go. And, yes, she was there for that and loved all of that. It was great.
MTV: What were your initial discussions with Gary Ross like?
Makovsky: The initial discussions always start with character. I would say on this movie, we started with the world that they were going to live in. Philip Messina is the production designer. I've worked with him before; we're a great team. Gary, Phil and I all sat down and just talked about what this world was going to be, and how do you have District 12 — how does that reflect in the Capitol? Because it is all the same planet, it is all the same time period. So they have to make sense together ... Before Gary got the job, we sent him all these images of coal-mining towns and all these things. He picked up some of them and just went, "This is it. This isn't a period movie, but I want the feel of these photographs." So it was basically a discussion about the world they lived in, and then we started talking about individual characters.

Read the rest of the article over at MTV