Directed by Tim Burton and with legendary costume designer Colleen Atwood at the helm, Dumbo is a veritable feast for the eyes. Resplendent in 1920’s glamour and all the trappings of the circus, make-up artist Lisa Eldridge had one of her most exciting challenges yet when she stepped up to design the looks.
“I think I screamed when I got call,” says Eldridge, in a new YouTube video featuring Eva Green on her channel.
“I always wanted to work with Tim Burton. I’m a massive fan. I love his movies, his vision, and his imagination,” she continued. Fans of Eldridge’s work and Instagram will know she’s a keen makeup historian, so creating looks for a film set in 1919 involved dipping into her personal archives of scrapbooks and references from the era.
“I looked a lot at the ballet russe and circus performers [of the time],” ventured Eldridge, noting that she and Green worked collaboratively on many of the looks, and were inspired by Theda Bara, the silent film star and original femme fatale.
Despite how fantastical the film may feel, Green notes that there were “a lot of fashion looks,” and that she particularly fell in love with one of the lip styles Eldridge created for her character’s debut scene.
“I added some pure red pigment to the centre of the lips,” noted Eldridge, “To give it that haughtiness and texture it needed.” The pair discuss in detail the process they went through to refine the looks, explaining how the looks had to be tweaked to ensure they captured the mood of the film, while also working from every angle and enduring multiple costume changes.
Truly, it’s a masterclass in movie makeup and a must-watch for any budding makeup historian or cinephile. Lisa, we salute you.
