Serena, The subject of the Hybrid documentary, is a performer herself and has a large array of costumes in which she performs in. As we are representing her and her story, we wanted to work alongside her in designing the costumes to be featured. The three costumes had to be very different, in order to represent three aspects of Serena’s life: a male at home in Malaysia, Serena as a showgirl and Serena in her day to day self as a transgender woman.
Each costume had to be able to blend into its corresponding set and stand out from the other two. With taking this into consideration, we have kept the first two costumes (male and day to day Serena), in black and grey tones. The showgirl costume is to be bright colours, accessories and make-up. This is to both represent Serena on the stage but also create a vast contrast between the Malaysian home set and her costume.
The set for the showgirl/dressing room, is styled in a romantic 1950’s setting mixed with the colour palette similar to that of Moulin Rouge. We wanted to be able to add as much colour into the costume without losing Serena in the red drapery and red bricks of the walls. The use of pink enables Serena to sit in the set without completely blending in. The design of the dress is simple with similar drapery to the red curtain behind. The touch of diamonds to her shoulder, headdress and earrings give a touch of elegance and harks back to the classic Marilyn Monroe in ‘Gentlemen prefer blondes’. Serena’s own fashion is influenced by such icons as Marilyn.