The Great Gatsby
A room of white roses, and an American dream that cannot last.
A speculative design for F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Starting from character analysis, I designed costumes for Gatsby, Daisy, Jordan and Tom, and built scene models for the reunion and the shirt scene, using white roses and warm and cool light to tell of Gatsby's idealism and Daisy's indifference.
Characters
Daisy: She embodies the "American dream" Gatsby chases: charming on the surface, hollow within, a typical gold-loving girl of the Jazz Age. She measures happiness in money, covets material things, and is vain, selfish and indifferent.
Gatsby: Passionate and romantic. Born poor, after meeting Daisy he places a false faith in material wealth, believing that riches alone will win back love: a purely platonic idealism.
Jordan Baker: A woman of the new era. Unlike the dependent Daisy, she is independent, financially and personally, and stays calm when things go wrong.
Tom: Born into wealth, he carries the superiority of an old lineage and looks down on the nouveau riche. When his mistress is killed by Daisy at the wheel, he lays the blame on Gatsby, showing his arrogance and his willingness to use any means.
Model: The Greenhouse
The scene in which Gatsby and Daisy meet again after five years apart. I imagined Gatsby's heart racing, so I filled the cottage with white roses: a symbol of the beauty and purity of first love, and of Daisy, in Gatsby's eyes, as lovely and sacred as a white rose.
Model: The Bedroom
Gatsby throws his shirts down from upstairs while Daisy gathers them below. To me the scene mixes Gatsby's sweetness and his pain: flinging the shirts, he is eager to show Daisy his wealth and to cover an empty, anxious heart, while Daisy sees him as a way to spice up her failing marriage. Warm and cool lighting create two atmospheres for their inner worlds: Gatsby's warm, Daisy's cool.
