Dracula and Her Bride

Artist Statement 

Alex Wilson has a specialist focus in the breakdown of costumes. Their work displays historical costuming, modern elements as well as aging and distressing and the breakdown of costumes. With Dracula and her Bride, Alex wanted to explore how modern ideals can be linked to classic stories. Hence, Dracula and the Bride are both feminine presenting characters. For this version Alex wanted to look at the queer roots of the original story of Bram Stoker's (1897) Dracula by linking in elements from the book Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1872). 

In this new adaptation, the storyline differs as the Bride kills her husband whilst she transforms into a vampire. This is different from the original as the bride (Mina), breaks the curse and helps to kill Dracula in the 1897 novel. Alex’s version has the bride join Dracula as they walk out of a window together and into the embrace of the night.  

To create the costumes, Alex used many modern and historical techniques, such as; corsetry, fabric manipulation, pleating and breakdown. 

This pleated bodice for the bride took upwards of 8 hours to pleat, press and hand sew. resulting in a both bridal and sleep-wear aesthetic for the bride. the spinal detail on the back of Dracula's bodice was created because Alex wanted to link in Dracula's ability to transmogrify into different animals. The spine detail adds an animalistic element to the costume, and results in an intentional unnerving feeling for the observer. 

After university, Alex wants to pursue a career working in theatre, tv and film as a breakdown artist with a specialism in stunt work. This comes from their love of practical horror films and the special effects used in them. Alex is looking into a wide range of jobs initially, with specialising as a breakdown artist being the ultimate goal.   For the moment, Alex is seeking work on smaller budget productions as well as applying to touring theatre companies as a dresser or costume assistant.