Alexina Duncan
A freelance costumier working in the UK film industry since 2010, I have worked on film and tv projects both large and small, from tiny micro-budget indies up to massive blockbuster franchises. However, my love and passion will always fall back to the Galaxy Far Far Away.
I grew up, like so many, on the original trilogy. One my earliest memories is explaining to my dad that the Millenium Falcon is hiding so that they can then pretend to be garbage and get away from the baddies, so at the oldest I was three. But The Phantom Menace was a revelation on so many levels to 9/10 year old Xena: my vague interest in costume was suddenly ignited, my fascination with the process of film production and the fact that there is a process to make these films, and that costume? That’s a thing you could do! Professionally! Years and years later I went on to study costume at university and some how managed to work and work and work my way into the film industry, into the industry that I grew up studying and enamoured with. I’m so lucky, and it’s all thanks to Star Wars.
Costume is not just about getting clothes on backs and in front of cameras. It’s about character and story, it’s about constructing a narrative shorthand visually. Showing where that character has come from, what they are and how they are now, where they are going, will be going. Might be going. Evolution and exploration. That’s why I love costume, and that’s why I love sharing my thoughts. It’s just so much.
To borrow from George Lucas, it’s poetry.
Alongside my costume work I am currently studying for my Masters in Fashion Cultures, undertaking an extended study of the archetypes and form of ‘rebellion’ in Star Wars costuming.
Find me on:
Poetry in Costume 