09/04/2014

Secrets of Angelina Jolie

Many moons ago I was invited to make a piece for Lara Croft; the well known curvy heroine in Tomb Raider 2 played by Angelina Jolie.

The garment was an elasticated waspie to reduce her waist by a mere 1″ and enhance her silhouette without a digital alternative which would be considerably more expensive. This waspie was to be worn under a wet suit so as you can imagine was no easy task to make it boned with no visible lumps. To assist in understanding the shape of this character I was given a bra and the largest sized enhancers I had ever used in my life(Chicken fillets). The secrets of Lara Croft’s silhouette were revealed to me!!!

3 prototypes of the waist enhancer were made and off I went to Pinewood. And, true to form, in this industry a wait in a corridor ensued… After 3hrs the demi Goddess turned up. She is truly awesome… I do not normally get star struck but this woman has presence maan! I was not included in the fitting at this stage but was happy to keep Maddox entertained by letting him route around in my handbag!

To make this article more topical I must say that for all the extremely unfortunate ladies out there who has had the misfortune of suffering from breast cancer and had to undergo a mastectomy or a double mastectomy that I design garments where I build the bra in and pad out with enhancers. Angelina could of course afford immediate prophylactic mastectomy. Breast tissue comes out, tissue expanders go in, then the TEs (as they’re called) are slowly filled with saline until they can be surgically swapped for implants.

Regarding the flowing satin wedding dress that Versace designed for Angelina; it is not only demure but a classic number with a lovely hand painted touch from her children in the veil.