Fastrada, or The Power Construct of Sexuality: When approaching the character of Fastrada, I recognized it was vital to understand her beyond a comical sex object, and understand how, with all of her duality and manipulation, she might survive being married to Charlemagne. I was most reminded of Scheherazade, the heroine of Arabian Nights, who brilliantly extended her life by playing on her captor’s vanity and intelligently giving him just enough that he kept postponing her execution. From there, I extended my research towards other women in history who used their carefully created gender and sexuality personas to build and sustain power and respect. My list—headed by andincluded Queen Elizabeth I (who’s well known status as “The Virgin Queen” protected her from critics claiming being influenced by Man’s corruption/interest, as well as being subject to “female hysteria”); Marilyn Monroe— a woman who built her empire based on the weaknesses of men, each beguiling look or action carefully designed and researched, executed to precision to reach her ends; and Amanda Lepore— the first and most famous Trans model/celebrity ever, a vision of femininity literally designed and created by herself to be exactly the body and figure she desired to be in order to create Change— 100% in control of her own destiny. My final design incorporates a bit of each. The overall look channels the Arabian Nights heroine, but features elements of the rest: Elizabeth’s crown, Marilyn’s flair and stylings; Amanda’s Hair (the actress actually wears a custom built wig made by one of Amanda’s former stylists!) She is a combination of many powerful and resourceful women from history, all in control of their destiny and in charge of how they were perceived and treated. 🌟 

Book your tickets at www.PippinNH.com! 

Becca Tarr as Fastrada; Costume, Hair and Makeup Design by Jake Egan; Photo by Joshua Gagnon; Wig by @hollywoodcustomwigs; Makeup by Kae Ryenne

ntroducing Pippin-His Wardrobe’s Life and Times. Pippin’s story is framed primarily by a created [and purposely overstimulated] world of oversaturated and vibrant fantastical shapes, colors, and pageantry; a constant and ever changing costume landscape of time periods, cultures and civilizations, all finished with circus detail and flair. Yet, if you remove that magic, and ignore its intended “sleight of hand” — Pippin’s is the universal and constant tale of all of us—no matter of time period, culture, community or civilization, nationality, gender or upbringing. Every group of people across the world hold a shared narrative of a person who’s story is comparable to Pippin’s . He is both timeless and time traveller; belonging and conforming to no singular vision, he is our Everyman. 

When I began designing his look, I was inspired particularly by Tom Baker’s iconic wardrobe as Doctor Who. Baker’s garments are all carefully coordinated and familiar, not foreign to the eye or disarming, but one gets the sense that each piece has been collected from the many worlds, times and realities with which he has engaged, and it is a comfortable but totally unique style not able to be replicated by anyone who is not first easily able to venture through time and space. To accomplish this for the show, I sought out each garment individually, one piece at a time from the collections of various small but ranking designers from across the world, who specialize in reimagining the familiar in ways that don’t hugely alter the cut or style of a garment, but instead give the feeling that you are meeting an old friend you know well, but have not seen in many years. Most of the pieces are actually now considered “vintage “ and not widely available. Pippin is all of us, but as he searches for his future and finds it elusive— we do the same to find his wardrobe and find it equally so…

The most legendary, revered and feared Leaders of his time, Charlemagne’s powerful place in history is without dispute. Yet we have no factually documented face to put to his name. Instead we rely on the very complimentary larger-than-life depictions of him created by the painters, sculptors and artisans he employed soley to depict him at his finest or better. 

In my mind, Charlemagne created himself not as a Human, but as a God, and therefore could not resemble someone organic to reality, but instead born of an artisan’s brushes or tools and flattery. 

Images 1 and 2: I created a color palette that used only the color pigments available to artists at that point in history, and was thrilled to find four incredible fabrics: A stunning dusty royal blue for the body that features a Medieval-style illustrated homage to silver chain mail armor; a juniper berry red lambskin suede hide; a multi textured metallic chenille that resembles the forged metal popular during that period; and a stunning golden rod lining fabric for his ceremonial oversleeves with a dusty blue floral print that is embellished with metallic gold paint brush strokes and specks! The belt buckle is a hardforged iron depiction of Charlemagne’s reign created by an artist based out of Wisconsin, who only uses historically accurate tools to create his work. 

Underneath his tunic he wears a pair of artist- illustrated armored leggings. 

Image 3: In keeping with the artisan crafted concept, using historical source images as a guide, I designed my own intrerpretation of his crown, and hand cut and welded it from stainless steel.

Image 4: The Finished Portrait of The King! Or: “Life Imitating Art, Imitating Life” - Artist Unknown 🌟