The Costume Designs of Eduardo Castro
Designers Guild Award winning, Emmy nominated Costume Designer
Presented by the Society for the Museum of Original Costume (smoc)
March 20, 2016 at the beautiful Hycroft Mansion
Post and photos by Dianna Drahanchuk
Who’d have thought a job as an usher would ignite the spark of passion for a life-long career? Eduardo got the job at a Los Angeles music centre that hosted operas, symphonies, plays AND the Academy Awards when he was seventeen years old. Gradually he worked and educated his way back stage and then through all stages of costume design. He eventually designed for tv shows like Miami Vice, Ugly Betty, and many others up to now on the Once Upon a Time series from which these costumes came. The exquisite pieces, that can cost up to $15,000 each partly due to generous applications of details such as Swarovski crystals, were Alexander McQueen inspired. One really impressive fact is that all the were made by his team in Canada!
Eduardo is personable and approachable, well loved by his Bridge Studio team. Twenty of the 35 person team were present even though they’d heard all his stories before. He takes pride in getting things done smoothly and quickly, an absolute necessity in film, and stressed that relationships are most important to achieve that end. Five of his team told their own stories. Melissa provides communications guidance and organization, Mitchell works on costume design, Kirsten deals with actors, and Heather and Holly age and dye costumes (see detail of “moonlight peeking through forest” photo below). Because Eduardo’s greatest talent may be in harmonizing the team, creativity flows, allowing for the amazing results seen in the costumes presented.
Asked whether his costumes are true to history, Eduardo replies that they are a “mash up”, after all they are made for fantasy.
Designers Guild Award winning, Emmy nominated Costume Designer
Presented by the Society for the Museum of Original Costume (smoc)
March 20, 2016 at the beautiful Hycroft Mansion
Who’d have thought a job as an usher would ignite the spark of passion for a life-long career? Eduardo got the job at a Los Angeles music centre that hosted operas, symphonies, plays AND the Academy Awards when he was seventeen years old. Gradually he worked and educated his way back stage and then through all stages of costume design. He eventually designed for tv shows like Miami Vice, Ugly Betty, and many others up to now on the Once Upon a Time series from which these costumes came. The exquisite pieces, that can cost up to $15,000 each partly due to generous applications of details such as Swarovski crystals, were Alexander McQueen inspired. One really impressive fact is that all the were made by his team in Canada!
Eduardo is personable and approachable, well loved by his Bridge Studio team. Twenty of the 35 person team were present even though they’d heard all his stories before. He takes pride in getting things done smoothly and quickly, an absolute necessity in film, and stressed that relationships are most important to achieve that end. Five of his team told their own stories. Melissa provides communications guidance and organization, Mitchell works on costume design, Kirsten deals with actors, and Heather and Holly age and dye costumes (see detail of “moonlight peeking through forest” photo below). Because Eduardo’s greatest talent may be in harmonizing the team, creativity flows, allowing for the amazing results seen in the costumes presented.
Asked whether his costumes are true to history, Eduardo replies that they are a “mash up”, after all they are made for fantasy.
Rana Vahabzadeh, smoc event coordinator with Eduardo Castrto
Show guests Klaus (collector of fine German vintage clothing),
Ivan Sayers (smoc curator and vintage clothing collector extraordinaire) and
Parker (tailor of Edwardian men’s wear)
Event sold out in 10 days!
Images from film, costumes designed by Eduardo
Eduardo wanted a Joan Crawford feel for this blue velvet dress - my favourite
Diane Parks helping with costume set up
Maleficent costume sketched by Eduardo
Three costumes designed for “Once Upon a Time” tv film series
Detail of purse used with costume on the left of above photo
Detail of belt for costume on the left in photo shown above
Detail of dress to the right and behind Eduardo in photo above
Detail of belt for the costume, second left of Eduardo in photo above
Eduardo with costumes and fabulous stories
