Eiko Ishioka

Today marks the birthday of a true visionary, Eiko Ishioka. Though this artist has been enriching the world for 67 years now I first became aware of her work when watching Francis Ford Coppola’s gonzo take on Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) for which she designed the costumes. In interviews at the time Coppola suggested that his original idea was for the costumes to function almost as set design … as if they alone would carry the entire burden of creating the films eery visually spectacular world. Ishioka deservedly won the Oscar for her breathtaking work.

Disappointingly for screen costume enthusiasts like myself, Ishioka spreads her talents over many fields (album covers, music videos, poster design, theatrical costuming, etc…) so her film efforts are few and far between. Generally her work is seen only a couple of times a decade on our movie screens. But within the next year or so we’ll have two (!!!) movies touched by Ishioka. First up is The Fall a reteaming with Tarsem Singh for whom she costumed The Cell (2000) . The second is a Spanish drama about a feminist mystic, Saint Teresa, starring Paz Vega.


Links to Love:
Eiko directs Björk in "Cocoon"
Eiko Ishioka on The Cell
Eiko and Cirque du Soleil
Eiko books