NOTICE: Don't miss time stamps within the Runway Performance for costume reveals: 1:07 & 1:26
CONCEPT STATEMENT
From the shiny robotic heart of a classic pinball machine, our dress design comes rocketing out with the grace and glory of elegant tiles and fabrics, and with the sheen and fury of The Who’s full rock attack. The subject of “Pinball Wizard” is a young deaf, dumb, and blind pinball playing phenomenon who becomes a legend in the local gaming halls.
Songwriter Pete Townshend said upon its release, "the character of the song’s real self represents the aim – God – and the illusory self is the teacher; life, the way, the path and all this. The coming together of these are what make him aware. They make him see and hear and speak so he becomes a saint who everybody flocks to.”
The wizardry of the song is found in The Who’s ability to tilt a spiritually ambitious portion of a larger rock opera into a technical tour-de-force and a massively memorable hard rocking pop song.
Our goals were similarly modest:
Evoke the technical spirit of original generation pinball wizardry.
Present an elegant and timeless dress concept,
with style cues transmitted from the era of our song,
inspired by the narrative of The Who’s rock masterpiece,
using the maximum R&B amount of generously provided fabrics and tiles
to result in a design that could not have a substitute…and can be seen for miles.
Clearly evident elements that modify the mod chrome mode include:
- Silver balls in action, racing on elevated tracks, bumping all the bumpers, always playing clean
- Crazy flipping flippers, played by intuition, standing like a statue
- Fabric and tile from Soho down to Brighton, not seen in any amusement hall
- And lights-a-flashin’…after a big colorful reveal that always get a replay!
The love of tile, fabrics, and pinball reigns over this dress concept, resulting in a design that ensures the digit counters fall (up) during voting.
No matter what, the FACET Architectural Design team won’t get fooled again!”
Sarah Bundy – Lead Garment Designer, Builder and Model
Suzanne Hayes – Project Manager, Model Assistant, jewelry Designer
Carl Karlen – Poster Designer, Video and Audio Producer, Lighting Specialist
Vendor Partners:
Daltile – Tiles
GoodLINES Design – Curtains
Smith and Simms Co. – Hair and Makeup Artist - Erica Moomey
