The costume team Masked singers has once again outdone itself in the third season of the popular Sunday show, which joins TVA’s schedule starting September 17th.
There was a lot of activity in the tailor’s workshop for four months. Each of the 15 costumes required an average of 500 hours of work from nearly thirty enthusiasts, including seamstresses, experts in structures, mechanisms, sculpting, casting, finishing and patina.
The Orange Cone, a new costume for the third season, perfectly represents our metropolis. PHOTO PROVIDED BY TVA
This year we even had to spend more than 800 hours to create one of the characters we are about to discover.
“We managed to raise the bar. In the first season we started from scratch. We would like a recipe, but it doesn’t work that way. “For each costume, it’s case by case,” head of costumes Patrick Martel told QMI Agency.
“There is something new to discover every time, even if we still rely on previous seasons. In particular, we learned techniques for vision and head weight. There are enough ideas for the next 20 years!” he added with a broad smile.
Patrick Martel is responsible for the costumes for “Masked Singers.” JOËL LEmay/AGENCE QMI
We obviously need new material, as was the case for “The Astronaut” in this third season. “For The Astronaut, we had to do a lot of research to figure out how to create an attractive mirror effect for the helmet visor that would hide the person’s face in it but still allow the person to see through. “Harder than it looks!” He testified and added that his team is increasingly using flocking, a technique used for the lion that involves “gluing small hairs to a surface by flinging them onto the glued surface and using an electrical charge to orient them so that the hairs look like they are in the right direction.
Patrick Martel guesses about the identity of the participants in the Secret of the Gods. He was linked to content producer Martin Proulx from the beginning. In addition to meeting and brainstorming with the personalities, taking measurements and overseeing the tailoring process, he is also on set to help them put on their costumes with the help of Florence Dussol and Sandra Turgeon, who also work in the fashion workshop help from Christine Plouffe.
“I enjoy being here in the studio because I see the costumes moving and evolving,” Mr. Martel said.
Quebecois costumes in France
The Masked Singers’ costumes are so sought after that some found their way into the French version of the show, like Lobster the Sheriff and Mandrill the monkey. “I am very proud that these costumes have another life,” said Mr Martel, who teaches puppet design and scenography at UQAM, as well as to students enrolled in the Specialized Graduate Diploma in Theater for contemporary puppetry, a unique program in the country.
He’s also a puppeteer for Kid Koala’s show The Storyville Mosquito, which takes him around the world, but he says he still has room in his schedule for a possible fourth season of Masked Singers.
The third season of Masquerade Singers, produced by Productions Déferlantes, will air on TVA from September 17 at 7 p.m.