Capitol Couture is a now-defunct website created to promote the Hunger Games film franchise. It went live on January 23, 2012, and ran through November 20, 2015.[1]
Behind the project[]
Capitol Couture and TheCapitol.PN, another promotional site, were created by the Watson Design Group for Lionsgate. Capitol Couture was a five-issue fashion magazine that "[blended] in-world storytelling with real-world fashion icons".[2]
While the custom Capitol Couture domain is no longer up or active, the blog on Tumblr is still available for fans to browse. This blog faces a number of cosmetic issues due to lack of maintenance, but as of June 2023, its approximately 400 posts and basic functions for navigation remain intact.[3] Capitol Couture posts can be searched, viewed, and shared more readily through Tumblr's built-in blog archive feature. The archive doesn't truly back up or preserve information from older versions of the blog, though; it is simply an alternate portal to search and view its posts through.
Notable campaigns[]
Photographer and motion picture marketing executive Tim Palen headed much of the marketing for the films, including Capitol Couture campaigns.
Capitol Portraits[]
From March 28th to March 29th, 2013, Capitol Couture posted a series of ten portraits that showcased main characters and supporting cast from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. An eleventh portrait of Katniss Everdeen was posted May 30th.[4][5]
Each character was shown sitting in either a wooden chair or an ornate upholstered seat. The five tributes wore the same outfits from their interviews, and they, Gale Hawthorne, and President Snow each had a single white rose clutched in one hand. Katniss was the only character shown standing beside her chair.[4][5]
Cover Story: Game Faces[]
In this campaign, Capitol Couture posted eleven portraits of tributes who would compete in the 75th Hunger Games in Catching Fire. Katniss's portrait was the first one posted on August 13, 2013. Others would be posted sporadically over the next few months. The last portrait, belonging to Finnick Odair, came on October 8th.[6][7]
Each pictured tribute wore their arena uniform, and they were rated on a scale of 1 to 10 in four categories: coif, pout, poise, and an overall style score. There was also a short written piece commenting on the tribute's appearance or demeanor. This would sometimes reveal previously unknown information about the first Games they had won.[6][7]
One Panem[]
District Heroes[]
On June 19th, 2014, Capitol Couture released seven portraits of District Heroes as advertisements for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1. These were original characters, independent from the books or films, serving as pro-Capitol propaganda for each of their respective districts.[8]
Capitol Citizen Living Portraits[]
Also for Mockingjay - Part 1, these were a pair of video portraits from July 22, 2014, showing Peeta Mellark[9] and Johanna Mason[10] slowly spinning to display every angle of their white outfits. They could be seen wearing these same clothes in another promotional video: President Snow's second Panem Address.
Victory Tour posters[]
In promotion for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, Capitol Couture released six Victory Tour posters, two for each victor. The first was Porter Millicent Tripp, on November 9th, 2015;[11] the second was Mags Flanagan, on November 11th;[12] and the third was Augustus Braun, on November 13th.[13] Porter and Augustus were both original characters independent from the books or films, while Mags was a familiar face from Catching Fire.
Contributions to Canon[]
Game Faces[]
- Mags won her Games "over five decades" before the third Quarter Quell.[14]
- Enobaria volunteered for, and won, the 62nd Hunger Games.[15]
- Cashmere was the victor of the 64th Hunger Games.[16] Since she and her brother won in consecutive years,[17] and Finnick Odair won the 65th Hunger Games,[18] Gloss had to have won the 63rd Hunger Games.
- Johanna Mason won the 71st Hunger Games.[19] Since she was 21 during the Quell,[20] she would have been seventeen at the time of her first victory.
Victory Tour posters[]
- Porter Millicent Tripp, from District 5, won the 38th Hunger Games. Her neck was broken in the final showdown, and due to her spinal injury, she wore a head brace throughout her tour.[11]
- Mags' surname Flanagan was first revealed here, and she won the 11th Hunger Games.[12] Since she was eighty at the time of the Quell,[17] she would have been sixteen then.
- Augustus Braun, from District 1, won the 67th Hunger Games. He was also known as "The Cavalier Career" and "Panem's Favorite Son". During his Games, he had an "unkempt persona", and he was very popular in the Capitol, seen as a spreading a message of "reconciliation".[13]
External links[]
Trivia[]
- Capitol Couture was also the name of the accompanying 2013 fashion collection by Catching Fire costume designer Trish Summerville.[21]
- The Capitol Couture Tumblr blog was a Clio Entertainment Award Silver winner in 2013.[22]
- In April 2014, the blog was also a finalist for the 6th Shorty Awards under the category "Best Tumblr Campaign".[23]
References[]
- ↑ https://capitolcouture.tumblr.com/archive
- ↑ https://www.commarts.com/project/10293/capitol-couture
- ↑ https://capitolcouture.tumblr.com/
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://capitolcouture.tumblr.com/tagged/Capitol%20Portrait
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 https://capitolcouture.tumblr.com/tagged/Capitol%20Portraits
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://capitolcouture.tumblr.com/tagged/GameFaces
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 https://capitolcouture.tumblr.com/tagged/Game%20Faces
- ↑ https://capitolcouture.tumblr.com/tagged/One%20Panem
- ↑ Peeta Mellark: Spirit of Strength - Capitol Couture
- ↑ Johanna Mason: Statuesque Allure - Capitol Couture
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 PORTER, THE 38TH VICTOR - Capitol Couture
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 MAGS, THE 11TH VICTOR - Capitol Couture
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 AUGUSTUS BRAUN, THE 67TH VICTOR - Capitol Couture
- ↑ Game Faces: District 4’s Mags - Capitol Couture
- ↑ Game Faces: District 2’s Enobaria - Capitol Couture
- ↑ Game Faces: District 1’s Cashmere - Capitol Couture
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Catching Fire, Chapter 14
- ↑ Catching Fire, Chapter 15
- ↑ Game Faces: District 7’s Johanna Mason - Capitol Couture
- ↑ https://entertainment.time.com/2013/11/20/i-was-destined-to-write-a-gladiator-game-a-conversation-with-suzanne-collins-and-francis-lawrence/
- ↑ http://www.trishsummerville.com/capitol-couture.html
- ↑ https://clios.com/entertainment/winner/digital/capitol-couture-tumblr-site-6914
- ↑ https://shortyawards.com/6th/capitol-couture