Alumni
Emmy-Winning Costume Designer and Grad Marina Toybina Featured in Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly featured an exclusive first look at the season 2 costumes for Fox's hit singing competition, The Masked Singer, and interviewed the show's costume designer, Marina Toybina, a graduate of FIDM's Fashion Design Program. The four-time Emmy Award winner chatted with the publication about how the costumes, which she calls "walkable art," will be different in the sophomore season.
Marina explained that one of her challenges for season 2 was to ensure the performance outfits had more mobility and the masks were easier to see through. The Butterfly (pictured above) was directly inspired by the runway, featuring wings reminiscent of the Victoria's Secret fashion shows.
“We wanted it to be very mythical and magical,” said Marina, who received Emmy Awards for Outstanding Costume Design for a Variety Program or Special for Katy Perry's Super Bowl XLIX Halftime Show, So You Think You Can Dance, Taylor Swift's 2013 Grammy performance, and X-Factor. “We created this beautiful fabricated pattern with tons of beading.”
She said the new costumes are meant to be more playful on stage and are enriched in detail. Some costumes, like the kid-friendly Skeleton, are meant to be glam and not scary. The 15 additional costumes she designed for the show were built to reduce echo and offer better visibility for the performing celebrity. “There are visual points all over the masks,” she said. “We were careful to create different peripheral vision so they can see on stage.”
The eclectic mix of mythical creatures and animals makes Marina proud: “There’s a lot more variety this year. It’s visually inspiring.” Born in Moscow, the future costume designer immigrated to the United States at age 11. After graduating high school in Phoenix, Arizona, she moved to Los Angeles to attend FIDM, where she launched a signature line called GLAZA.
Today, her work enjoys a global audience via music videos, concert arena stages, major fashion editorials, international runways, and primetime television. Marina has worked with Shania Twain, Justin Bieber, Dita Von Teese, Kirsten Dunst, Eminem, Nicki Minaj, Carrie Underwood, Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, Adam Lambert, Juliette Lewis, and Lil' Kim, among others.
The Masked Singer returns September 25, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. ET on Fox.
Categories: Film & TV Costume Design Alumni
