{"id":26193,"date":"2017-04-01T11:37:03","date_gmt":"2017-04-01T03:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/?p=26193"},"modified":"2021-04-09T10:57:15","modified_gmt":"2021-04-09T02:57:15","slug":"dress-for-success-with-frederick-lee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/dress-for-success-with-frederick-lee\/","title":{"rendered":"Dress For Success with Frederick Lee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Frederick Lee knows better than anyone how much work and skill it takes to create a runway-ready dress. For over two decades, he\u2019s been designing\u00a0haute couture<\/em>\u00a0masterpieces that have graced catwalks all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No less effort goes into the work he does in the theatre \u2013 as anyone who\u2019s laid eyes on his fabulous costumes for La Cage Aux Folles<\/em> would tell you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are close to 210 costumes in this entire production,\u201d Frederick says as he takes us on a tour of his atelier<\/em> in Aljunied. It\u2019s a beautiful space, practically overflowing with racks of stunning dresses and books on design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He draws our attention to an exquisite yellow gown that will be worn by Ivan Heng during one of the show\u2019s biggest musical numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve spent over 300 hours working on this one gown,\u201d Frederick notes, as he runs his fingers over the tiny Swarovski crystals that have been painstakingly sewn by hand into the fabric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
In Stitches: each individual crystal is sewn onto the gown by hand!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The wow factor of the dress is further enhanced with ostrich feathers \u2013 just one of the 250 different varieties of feathers Frederick has sourced for the costumes in the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is La Cage Aux Folles<\/em>, after all \u2013 which translates into \u2018The Birdcage\u2019 in English,\u201d he observes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why he has taken pains to incorporate feathers into every single scene of the show, even though doing so involves a great deal more work for him and his team. \u201cYou have to treat each feather with dye or colour, and sometimes, you have to finger-paint them!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are specific challenges, too, that Frederick encounters in designing for the theatre that do not plague him on the runway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The quick change is a prime example. Sometimes, an actor has just 30 seconds to change costumes. To complicate matters, that might even have to happen during a song, while on stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, Frederick has developed various tactics to make quick changes as swift and seamless as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of his tried-and-tested tricks is to use magnets \u2013 instead of Velcro, the more conventional fastener of choice \u2013 in his quick changes. He\u2019s found that this is less distracting for the actor, something he takes very seriously in designing his costumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cActors have so many things on their minds \u2013 at any point, Ivan might have to sing, dance, kick and wear a headpiece when he\u2019s on stage,\u201d says Frederick. \u201cSo I try to make it easy for the performer and create clothes that are a breeze to wear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For La Cage Aux Folles<\/em>, he\u2019s challenged himself to whip up costumes that are \u201cas light as possible\u201d. This has required him to figure out, through trial and error, how to make some items, like harnesses, function just as effectively at half the weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Drawing Inspiration: Frederick\u2019s sketch springs to life!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a lot<\/em> of extra effort, energy and ingenuity that goes into designing for the theatre. Why, then, does Frederick keep coming back for more?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe theatre provides an escape for me, into another era or universe,\u201d he explains. \u201cIn the fashion world, it\u2019s clothes, clothes and more clothes on the runway. My hope is that my costumes will take you to another world, or transport you to a different time. Pulling that off is very rewarding for me as an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fashion maven Frederick Lee takes us on a tour of his workshop as he shares some of the tricks of his trade. What keeps him returning to the theatre? Find out here!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":31302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[258,44,247],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26193"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}