FIDM Museum Annual Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibition

For the 21st year the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) Museum and Galleries showcases, up close and personal, costumes from a wide range of 2012 movies at their campus in the South Park neighborhood of Downtown Los Angeles until April 27, 2013.  If you love going to the movies, then this is a must see exhibit, and it is even free, although donations are greatly appreciated.   Plus, they have one of the best museum stores in all of Los Angeles, showing unique items from many former students. The FIDM exhibition and store is open from Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm.

This year FIDM has all five of the movies nominated for an Academy Costume Design Oscar, and eight of the fifteen movies nominated in the Costume Guild's three categories of competition.  My embedded Flickr slideshow gives one a walk through of the motion picture costumes on exhibit, and if you are on an iPad, click here.



As I write this, the Costume Guild will be having their award dinner tonight to announce their three winners.  For each of the categories, my predictions for Costume Guild awards would be Skyfall, Anna Karenina, and Mirror Mirror. [Update on morning after: My predictions were correct.]

Warner Brothers Best Kept Secret. SHH!!!!!

Time to break out those Marauder's Maps and head out to Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank because a tour is about to commence! That's right the Warner Brothers Studio offers tours of their studios and Museum (and for more information click on that link!).

At Warner Brothers, everyone is considered a VIP. Their standard tour is the VIP tour where members get an excusive look at sets, soundstages, backlot streets and craft tours. In addition, the tour ends at the Warner Brothers Museum which has many spectacular exhibits (including an entire floor dedicated to Harry Potter) that are available only through the tour. So for all those muggles and people wishing to experience the behind-the-scenes magic of Warner Brothers' current and classic movies and television come a board! Because what better time is there then the present!

The tour also begins with a video that depicts the history of Warner Brothers. These tours are from 8:20 am to 4pm Monday through Friday and it is recommended to get advanced tickets online. However, they do offer first-come, first-serve tickets each day for remaining spots, as well as extended and weekend tours during spring and summer and those dates will be listed on the website.

But for those of you would want to be very, very important people, there is the Deluxe Tour. These tours are led by guides that take you into current movie sets and allow you to talk to crew members as well as the artists in the craft shops. Overall, this is a more in-depth tour that really allows you to ask questions and understand the movie-making process. This tour also invites you to eat at the studio commissary cafe where -hint hint-you might just get to dine with a star! These Deluxe Tours are five hours and begin at 10:20 am Monday through Friday and advanced tickets are recommended.

Included in both tours is an all-access pass to the Warner Brothers Museum which features many exhibits on movie memorabilia such as costumes and props from classic and recent films. Some examples of memorabilia the museum houses are the intricate hats from My Fair Lady, James Dean's hunky Triumph 500 motorcycle, and Oscar's from some of Warner Brothers award-winning films. Along with these beautiful displays, the Museum has a variety of audio stations and video clips that depict how or when certain props were used in a film. And the most popular exhibit is the entire floor dedicated to the fantastic world of Harry Potter. There is even a Harry Potter Sorting Hat on display that will even sort guests into different houses! Another museum area is devoted to Casablanca that holds Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman's costumes, the famous piano and other one of kind pieces from the production. The most recent addition to the museum is a special one that celebrates the 50th anniversary of television.

With Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opening today in LA, here are some more Harry Potter-related locations for all of us die hard fans which you might not know about. For instance, if you go to the magnificent Hollywood Mann's Chinese Theater to see the movie, be sure to see the three young stars of the Harry Potter movies Daniel Radcliff, Ruptert Grint and Emma Watson's hand prints and foot prints in front of the Grauman's Chinese Theater - a historic landmark of Los Angeles that houses hundreds of celebrities' imprints. If you go to the Santa Monica Promenade to see the film, another Harry must-see several miles away is Whismic Alley a store at 2717 1/2 Wilshire Blvd. that is fashioned to be a Diagon Alley look alike. Inside the store, you will find individual sections serving as the different stores in the books and movies such as Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions which has extremely authentic costumes and Olivanders Wand Shop featuring equisetic imitation wands from the movie and books. Finally, the Arc Light Sherman Oaks is currently displaying costumes from the latest movie Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. If you are a real diehard fan or planning to travel to Chicago, the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry has a great summer Harry Potter exhibit that is stirring up lots of excitement. After Chicago, who knows where the exhibit will land.

So don't just sit back, relax and watch Harry Potter or any movie. Get involved with the premiere week and have fun with it. Maybe even go in costume. You are in Los Angeles, meaning Hollywood and all the movie magic is at your finger tips so take advantage and enjoy it!

Voldemort and Death Eater costume photo courtesy of Curt Gibbs that is from his picture set of FIDM's 2008 Movie Costume Exhibit which contains several other Harry Potter costume pictures. It is very possible that costumes from this year's film will be in the 2010 FIDM Movie Costume Exhibit.

-Aly