Lion King: Pride Lands Designs

To get a clear understanding of what we are undertaking, we contacted the youth theatre Razzamataz asking for a list of characters so that we may delegate responsibilities to each of the members in the group. I chose to design and create the grass head dresses, Zazu's costume/ puppet and the Mufasa head. 

The grass head dress and costume design were based on a traditional African patterns and colours. However the shape of the garments have been taken from different parts of the world such as the harem trousers which are from the Middle East. The beaded corset, neck piece and head dress are very African. The head dress is designed to look like a sun set and is supported with the fading colours starting from the bottom (earthy black) to the top (bright yellow and orange) the costume becomes part of the set as well as part of the actor.    

Razzamataz Lion King: Pride Land

Razzamataz Youth Theatre has commissioned my fellow university peers and I to design and create masks, costumes and puppets for their production of Lion King: the Pride Lands. As a group we chose to look into different aspects of Lion King; including the Disney animation, traditional African Tribes and the Lion King musical on Broadway designed by Julie Taymor. 

I started collecting research including images and fabric samples to inspire my ideas and first sketches. This will be presented to the group to collaborate on ideas and suggestions. To get a general idea of what the production show would look like, I created a mood board displaying images of: traditional African prints, clothing, as well as modern day African high fashion. This led me to gain a general idea of what my designs will be using the identified colour pallet.