Sue Wong

Finally, I wanted to look at Sue Wong’s Collection that she designed in collaboration with Disney for the 2010 Alice in Wonderland movie. Sue Wong always seems inspired by the past - a lot of her designs for this collection seem to be influenced by fashion from the 1920s. However, on the collections website (http://www.suewong.com/alice/) it seems that each dress is inspired by environments from the movie. I really like 1920s style clothing, so the combination of that along with Alice in Wonderland has made some very nice dresses, in my opinion.

Angelic Pretty

I also found the Japanese fashion label “Angelic Pretty” to be quite inspiring. The brand started in 1979 and specialises in “sweet lolita” style clothing. From what I understand, Sweet Lolita is influenced by Rococo style, Victorian and Edwardian clothing. Some of the common themes in Angelic Pretty are Alice in Wonderland imagery, showing designs of white rabbits, tea parties, playing cards, cake etc.

Japanese girls seem to like angelic pretty because of their unique prints and patterns. Therefore, I may look at them further next term when I develop my character design using an iterative process.

Vivienne Westwood

Next I will look at one of my favourite designers, Vivienne Westwood. These wonderland inspired outfits from her Spring/Summer 2010 Ready-To-Wear collection are almost the complete opposite of the last collection I looked at, as they are over-the-top and messy. Westwood’s designs seem to capture the insanity and quirkiness of Alice in Wonderland. Most of the designs remind me of the Queen of Hearts and The Mad Hatter.

Luella Bartley

Like the context of my game idea, I want my protagonist to be inspired by Alice in Wonderland as well. However, I still want my character to look original and contemporary. Rather than looking at how Alice is shown in book illustrations and animations, I wanted to look at how the wonderland theme is expressed in the fashion world. After studying textiles and fashion at A-level, I have always been interested in the latest collections and I hope this comes across in my designs.

Firstly, I wanted to look at the Luella Spring/Summer 2010 ready to wear collection. I am reminded of Alice in Wonderland because of the ribbons in the hair, pastel colours and an emphasis on the silhouettes of the dresses. I like these outfits because it’s almost like a very mature and subdued version of Alice and Wonderland. These garments also remind me of the rococo architecture I looked at, because of the pastel colours.

Superflat Monogram & Superflat First Love

In 2003, Marc Jacobs and Takashi Murakami collaborated to make limited edition handbags for Louis Vuitton. The new print combined Louis Vuitton’s famous LV pattern with Murakami’s colourful art style (which he refers to as “Superflat”)

Since then, a few animations by Mamoru Hosoda have been created as promotion for the collaboration. The two animations below seem to be inspired by Alice in Wonderland, with girls falling into strange worlds, inhabited by some unusual characters. I enjoy these animations because I think that the repeated use of pattern works very well with the 3D animation – creating a kind of psychedelic aesthetic. I also like the strange, but charming characters in the animation. I would like my own game to have this kind of mood: something mysterious and unusual, yet very light-hearted.

Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch is an upcoming movie directed and co-written by Zack Snyder to come out in 2011. I was first interested in the movie after seeing concept art for it, created by Alex Pardee.

The director for the movie described his upcoming feature as “Alice in Wonderland with machine guns.” The narrative focuses on a girl called Baby Doll whose evil step-father has sent her to a mental institution, where she drifts into a dream-like alternate reality. A lot of the focus on this movie seems to be about the protagonists struggle with her imaginary world and reality and how the two eventually blur. I believe Snyder referenced Alice in Wonderland because of Baby Doll’s fantasy world which may or may not be reality.

My Neighbour Totoro

My Neighbour Totoro is a 1988 Japanese animation from Hayao Miyazaki. The animation is set in the countryside of post-war Japan and the narrative shows two young girls who befriend forest spirits.

Like the Wizard of Oz, I feel like this movie has subtle references to Alice in Wonderland. For example, the younger girl “Mei” finds Totoro by crawling through a hole, after following a white, rabbit like creature.

Also, I think that the “Cat Bus” character is similar to the Cheshire cat in appearance.

The Wizard of Oz

Next, I want to look at media that has been inspired by Alice in Wonderland and uses elements of the book to build on existing stories. Firstly, I will look at the Wizard of Oz series of books. I think it has a few similarities to Alice. For instance, both are transported from their ordinary lives to strange, fantasy worlds.

I seem to find even more similarities with Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz films. For instance, When Dorothy’s house is in the twister, you can see things flying outside her bedroom window. It very much reminds me of when Alice in falling down the rabbit hole in Disney animated version of Alice in Wonderland, which was released in 1951. Maybe the Wizard of Oz film influenced the animation?

Also, I find that Dorothy gets lost on the yellow brick road, just as Alice gets lost in the woods. In the Wizard of Oz, there are flowers that turn into people, Alice finds talking flowers in the garden…etc

I found that watching the 1939 Wizard of Oz Movie was useful for my game idea. I especially like how at the start of the film, where Dorothy is in Kansas, the film uses Sepia colours, but when she gets transported to the land of Oz, the film uses very bright and bold colours. I think this had a powerful effect on the film because the change in visuals directly affected the audience, making the difference between Kansas and the Land of Oz.

I will now talk briefly about some very recent responses to the Wizard of Oz.

Recently, I have been reading the Wizard of Oz graphic novels by Eric Shanower & Skottie Young. These comics have taken a much dark approach to the Oz books, yet it works well. The story is compelling and the illustrations are very well done. The comic books seem to cover a lot of the content that was in the original books, and pays no references to the films.

Another recent adaptation on the Wizard of Oz that I witnessed was Lady Gaga’s “Monster Ball” tour that I saw earlier this year. Although it may not have been obvious to the audience that the concert was Oz themed, it was certainly apparent by the various costumes Lady Gaga wears, as well as the narrative that was added to the show. In the show, Lady Gaga starts in New York City with her friends. She washes a car, goes to the subway etc. Half-Way through the show, Lady Gaga is swept into a tornado (like Dorothy) and then the stage is dramatically different, a lot more dream-like and surreal.

Writing this post has made me realise how subtly one media can influence another. I will now look further into other media texts.

Kukula

Kukula is another artist who has made some interesting Alice in Wonderland themed artwork. The characters in her drawings are delicate and doll-like, making her artwork look very innocent, and sometimes gloomy. However, Kukula often likes to add obscure meanings to her art by adding adult and sometimes sexual themes. I think her art is a good addition to my research, as I am interested in incorporating overly feminine themes to my game.

Mari Katogi

Mari Katogi is an artist I’ve recently discovered and loved. Katogi mostly creates illustrations based on Western fairytales and stories, including Alice in Wonderland themed artwork. I think the reason I like her art so much is because it feels elegant and dream-like, something I would definitely want my game to be. Many artists have created dark/gothic representations of Alice in Wonderland and I feel it’s now become over-done and boring.

Violeta Lópiz

I could not find out much information on illustrator Violeta Lópiz, as all of her blog was in Spanish. However, I eventually found out from another source that she mostly works for newspapers and illustrating children’s books. Out of the countless Alice in Wonderland illustrations I searched through, these pictures stood out the most because of their warm colours. Violeta Lópiz has quite a humorous and quirky art style, and I think this lends itself to Alice in Wonderland very well.

Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland is a novel first published in 1865 by Lewis Carroll. The story is about a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a strange and peculiar world, inhabited by talking animals and strange characters.

Since its release, Alice in Wonderland has influenced hundreds of responses and imitations across varying media. When I first thought about making a platform game, I wanted to respond to Alice in Wonderland, because of its unusual cast and environments. I want my protagonist (whose name I have not thought of yet) to also exit their own, ordinary world, and fall into a mysterious and nonsensical land.

Most people are familiar with John Tenniel’s famous illustrations of Alice and Wonderland, so instead I am going to research some lesser known artists who have created Alice in Wonderland visuals. I will mostly be looking for very feminine representations of the book, in order to aid my game idea.