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<\/a>Luke D\u2019Alessandro won a costume design Emmy in September. (Photo courtesy of Luke D\u2019Alessandro.) <\/p>\nD\u2019Alessandro shares the Emmy with five others who help create costumes for \u201cThe Masked Singer.\u201d The show is focused on celebrity guests who sing for a panel of judges while wearing disguises that have some elements of props or set pieces. Some of last season\u2019s costumes included singer\/actor Jack Wagner as a giant purple eggplant, actor Taraji P. Henson in a glittering costume inspired by a scarab, and former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz as a fuzzy red monster with googly eyes.<\/p>\n
Ideas for the characters come from the producers, sometimes inspired by the real identity of the person the costume is meant to disguise, D\u2019Alessandro said. Then the costumes are built, head to toe. As head designer, D\u2019Alessandro is involved in all the costumes. The work is more like that of a production designer, he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese aren\u2019t just garments, jeans and T-shirts, they have some elements that are soft and sculptural and some that are hard plastics or weird material,\u201d D\u2019Alessandro said. \u201cThey have to blend somewhere in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n
D\u2019Alessandro and five other people won the Emmy for \u201cThe Masked Singer\u201d costumes in early September. The category was outstanding costumes for a variety, nonfiction or reality program. In a video posted after the award was presented, D\u2019Alessandro can be seen holding the Emmy, standing on stage in the middle of the group. He thanked the Television Academy, Fox studios, a few specific people and \u201cthe entire team that makes our costumes come to life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The show\u2019s most recent season ended in April. It has been renewed for another season but no specific dates have yet been announced. The show had been filmed in Hollywood but is now being filmed New Jersey, close to New York City.<\/p>\n
MAINE STAGES<\/p>\n
Performing arts run deep in D\u2019Alessandro\u2019s family. His grandfather, Eugene D\u2019Alessandro Sr., founded the legendary Geno\u2019s Rock Club in Portland in the 1980s. D\u2019Alessandro\u2019s father also ran the club. He remembers spending time there on mornings when his father had errands to run, with his twin brother, Dominic. They played songs on the jukebox, danced around and drank Shirley Temples.<\/p>\n
As a kid, he was always diving into the costume box at home. By the time he was in Biddeford Middle School, he was acting in plays and involved in various theater programs, including theater camps. He was particularly inspired by his experience at the Academy of Developing Artists of Maine (ADAM), run by Ronda Verges in Biddeford. It was then he started to explore some of the other jobs and skills needed to put on a show, besides acting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember Ronda saying \u2018OK, if you\u2019re going to be an actor you need to have some other skills. You need to learn something about costumes, lighting, sound,\u201d said D\u2019Alessandro. \u201cThat sort of opened up my eyes to the backstage part of it. \u201c<\/p>\n By high school he realized he had a knack for design, for helping to created characters and worlds, and wanted to focus on that rather than acting. He applied to a performing arts high school in Michigan, Interlochen Arts Academy, without telling his parents. He was accepted, and his parents were immediately supportive.<\/p>\n At first, the family wasn\u2019t sure how they\u2019d pay the tuition. But then D\u2019Alessandro got financial aid that covered most of it, and he packed his bags and headed for Michigan. After his junior year at Interlochen, he got the opportunity to travel to Italy with some of the teachers who had summer jobs working on operas. He worked as a prop master, making hand props and painting scenery, among other things.<\/p>\n<\/a>The costumes on \u201cThe Masked Singer\u201d combine varied materials and styles. (Photo by Michael Becker\/ FOX.)<\/p>\n