Xanadu is about,
one of the Seven Muses from Greek Mythology; Clio. Who seeks Xanadu, I have no clue what that is. She’s plans to get Xanadu by inspiring Sonny Malone a mural artist that dreams of bigger things.
The show is super fun and campy and is incredibly 80s.
This was a Paper Project for a costume design class in the Fall of 2024.
I did a total of 14 different renderings and budgeted/sourced for 6 of them
Clio: the Muse of History
Clio is rocking a wool jacket with a tweed lapel and accents and orange buttons. She’s also got a pleated grey skirt with a orange circular pattern, a dress shirt also with orange buttons, orange glasses, a dark blue scarf with dyed orange ends, mid calf combat boots, as well as earrings and two pins with an orange flower design.
I chose Orange for her color if you couldn’t tell. The main inspiration for this look came from the reference photo second from the left, it was sourced from a book my professor gave me; which was fashion from the 80s where the designs were inspired by decades past. This book was used for all but one of the muses.
I was inspired by the lapel in the photo, which turns into the model’s sleeves. I diluted the idea a little bit, but still had the lapel travel down the sleeves.
Kira: shhhh its Clio
Kira is rocking a gently striped polo with a white collar, similar shorts, a sweatband material belt, blue roller-skates with orange laces and wheels with little flowers in them, wool leggings (those are plot relevant) with a polka dot and flower pattern, elbow and kneepads with flowers, and finally the earrings and the pin. I also wanted to shout out the make up with is an orange eyeshadow and orange lip stick with yellow stripes.
Main inspo was from the far left image, the collar of the polo was sharp and really unique so I tried to replicate it. I’m particularly proud of the detail of the skates.
Sonny Malone: the Dreamer
Sonny Malone hasn’t got much, just a pair of striped socks, red chuck tailors, boxer length jorts with the sleeves hanging out and a sleeveless cropped Hall and Oates concert T. Maybe he’s got some paint splatters too.
I also gave him some Hall and Oates hair as well.
I very much enjoyed sexualizing Sonny, it seemed on brand for his character and it was fun flipping the script.
Danny Maguire: Old Flame
Danny is a money man. He is wearing a three button two piece wool suit with a brown lining, a white dress shirt, a teal paisley tie, and dark teal set of oxfords.
The reference suits were really cool, so I did my best to make an incredibly boring suit because Danny is a rather boring man. He wasn’t always so he’s got an ornate tie and some bomb shoes on, as well as a cute flower pin.
Melpomene: Muse of Tragedy
Melpomene is the villain of the story set on just ruining things. Her color is Indigo. She’s got on a sparkly indigo dress with a silver trim across the waist and along the straps, sheer leggings, indigo slingbacks, a faux fur scarf, indigo gloves a silver necklace, and fun silver earrings, she’s also got indigo eyeliner with silver sparkles and silver lashes, indigo lipstick on top and silver on the bottom.
Her look was largely inspired the book image again which is the first reference photo on the left.
Calliope: Muse Epics and Poetry
Calliope is Green rocking a flapper dress with a pleated skirt with a fun pattern gold buckles up top, gloves with gold trim, platform heels with gold studs, a wide brim hat with a feather and gold band, multiple gold necklaces, some geometric gold earrings, green eyeliner and green lipstick.
She’s got gold because she’s best buddies with Melpomene who’s got silver.
Terpsicore: Muse of Dance
Our first male casted muse! and honestly maybe my favorite costume
Terpsicore got the color blue. She’s rocking a layered dress, its comes with an apple patterned layer, tassels, a lace layer, a red polka dotted sash, sleeve ties, bandana, and belt, along with a cute apple pin. She’s also got a cowboy hat and boots with a blue and yellow eyeliner and blue lipstick with a yellow dot on the lower lip.
She’s the only muse I didn’t use the book for, but that’s because I was really set on the square dancing idea for her.
Zeus: Played by Danny
All the gods in the show I had modeled off of insects, so of course Zeus was a lightning bug. Zeus’ dress uses a sheer fabric with gold trim and sparkles in it, this is covered by a solid fabric also with gold trim. The triangular shape is supposed to mimic the half open wings of a firefly. He also has ornamented boots, gloves, and a crown. His make up consists of blue and gold eyeliner and lipstick, and he has nose piercings to represent a bull, a symbol of Zeus.
Aphrodite: Played by Calliope
Aphrodite got the honey bee, so I wanted to incorporate a fluffy element to the look. Her shawl is a violet with gold patterning and a large neck piece with a striped faux fur, the fur also covers the edge of the shawl and the sleeves. The fur is also found on her hat and her platformed snow boots. The rest of her outfit was inspired by the far right image, a green cable knit sweater, belt, and snow pants from the 40s.
Hermes: Played by Terpiscore
Hermes got the dragonfly, this can be found in his yellow overcoat which has dragonfly wing patterns. Hermes is also associated with turtles, strangely, so his vest has a turtle shell pattern. Underneath that is an ivory dress shirt with a green patterned tie, he also has dark teal gloves, slacks and top hat with a gold band, as well as brown dress shoes. His staff has the two snake thing that Hermes tends to have, but coming out of one of the snake’s mouths is a pocket watch.
Hera: Played by Erato
Hera got the ladybug, which sourced the colors along with the roundness of the design, the rest were inspired by the image second to the right. Hera’s dress is all one patterned fabric, its sleeves don’t open and rather drape to the floor. She also has a black disc like hat with silver ornamentation and beads hanging off of the edges, as studded platform boots.
I really like how her look turned out.
