We’ve never met anyone who can stand eyeball-to-eyeball with a giraffe – and neither should your guests when they are at your event! Unless you managed to round up a herd of miniature wildlife for your next Jungle Book event, people have an expectation that giraffes are TALL. With this in mind, we put our costume designers to work to create the ultimate in exotic animal costumes.
Besides being height-appropriate (read to-scale), the attention to detail that goes into our costumes is the difference between riding the coin-operated kiddie ride animals in front of your local discount store and being on safari (except that none of these animals consider you dinner). Feathers, faux animal hides, and African-inspired jewelry transform suburbia into a thirsty sub-Sahara. Whether you’re seeking the “wow factor” for a safari-themed production or a jungle-themed circus, these costumes stand out: your entertainment never gets lost in the crowd. Guests will flock to them for photo opportunities. Bonus!
So where does Imagination designer John Coulter find the inspiration for such beautifully detailed creations? “It has been so much fun designing costumes for the team at Imagination. They have such trust in me as an artist, which gives me the freedom to let my creativity flow,” said Coulter. After learning what story the animals must tell, he worked with Imagination choreographers to understand the physical demands required of the talent wearing the costume. After all, you don’t want a zebra that can’t jump (or at least kick his heels up a bit).
“My favorite part of costuming is adding a lot of detail – it’s the icing on the cake,” said Coulter. “Detail creates a deeper character and gives more truth to the performance and story.”
It turns out that artistic genius is as much a process as it is divine.
