How ‘The Lion King’ Concert costumes came together with Bodysuits and Baskets
Costume designer Marina Toybina has achieved one of the biggest jobs of her career – putting together the costumes for Disney’s “The Lion King” 30 -year anniversary in the Hollywood Bowl.
The live concert was recorded in May 2024 and now streams on Disney+.
In 2024, Toybina invited Variety In her Glendale studio a week before Showtime. There is a calmness in the air. Animal prints and dust are everywhere over the place while cutters and assistants are sitting at their stations, at zero on their duties. “I haven’t tapped my clients yet … That starts on Friday,” says Toybina. If she feels busy, she doesn’t radiate it.
One has to wonder, how will she do it? Can she do it? Spoiler alert! Yes, she pulls it effortlessly.
Elephant heads were 3D printing.
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Toybina, whose credits “The Masked Singer” and “Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration” are no stranger to work under pressure and enjoys a challenging project. Disney’s 30-jarig jubileum van “The Lion King” was een meeslepende concertervaring ter ere van de evolutie van de franchise van de animatiefilm van 1994 tot de Tony Award-winnende musical en de live-actiefilms 2019 en 2024. Onder de cast zijn alumni van de originele animatiefilm Jeremy Irons en Nathan Lane (die Scar and Pumbaa stand out); Billy Eichner (Timon in the Remake 2019), Jennifer Hudson, Heather Headley and North West. The project is one of Toybina’s largest so far, with 10 main cast members and 30 dancers.
Before she lands the track, Toybina reveals that she had seen every repetition of the franchise of the “The Lion King”, including the episodic TV series. But because this would be on stage, one of the first things she did was work with the Broadway team. “I wanted the clients to jump against the background projections and did not switch what was classified in the Broadway production,” she says. “We had a call to ensure that we were aligned and there was a clear distinction between Broadway and what I did, which did not imitate and supported them with my designs.”
In addition, Toybina spent hours looking at photos as part of her research. “From zebra -ears to gira pies, to all the colors of the animals, to rhino horns, we all zoomed in on it,” laughs Toybina.
Costume designer Marina Toybina with a giraffe head. She spent hours watching giraff photos for research.
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Toybina paid extra attention to being culturally accurate when designing tribal prints. She explains: “It is South African tribal. We had to have the right colors and jewelry and ensure that there were no crossovers that we did not pull from others.”
When approaching the actual costumes, the process of Toybina was to break it down by characters. Toybina created a style deck and mood board for Hudson, which was then presented to her stylist and team. With West, who appears as young Simba, who was then handed over to their respective stylists and teams. “Wise, I know what the entire show looks like.” West, who sings the young Simba number, “I just can’t wait to be king,” says Toybina: “I spent time on the board to ensure that it is a stretcher and atmosphere.”
When she had that, it was about choosing fabrics, prints and colors. She also had to take rapid changes into account. “I have three hyenas. They wear masks for a while, and they go backstage, throw capes and become wildbeests,” she explains.
Rhinos, zebras and elephants belong to the Pride Land Creatures that she brought to life through costume. Toybina used bodysuits as the basis for many of the designs and added elements on top, whether it was airbrush stencils or painting by hand. “Everything is lightweight and danceable. It has the sustainability to be a performance piece,” she says, ensuring that every outfit was comfortable for the dancers to withdraw.
Many of the animal costumes started with bodysuits.
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Not everything was tailor-made-tooybina notes that some items were based on materials purchased in the store-“At one point we were at Joann and I bought weaving baskets to cut out.” Those baskets eventually became part of the elephants group.
Tribal jewelry and decorations for the costumes.
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After the challenge to design costumes for both “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King” Live, Toybina has another item on her bucket list: Designing costumes for a Live-Action Disney film. Your move, Disney.
