Note: since I wrote this in the Mid 1990s I peeled off most safety issues to Costume Crafts At 50o Below: The Fairbanks Non-Toxic Crafts Cookbook
I also have, since writing this, switched from referring to my work space as a “Costume Shop” to a “Costume Studio”. For more on this topic, see Naming the Workspace: Costume Shop vs Costume Studio
Continue reading Costume Shop Space, People, Food and SafetyMany Costume construction work rooms, especially in Theatre Departments in US Colleges and Universities, are referred to as the “Costume Shop”, while others are called a “Costume Studio”. Essentially, they mean the same thing to the workers, the choice is largely made one way or the other because of perceived values associated with the two names, and efforts by the managers/namers of these spaces to get equal status and worker pay with the Scene Shop in the same building, or equal status, funding and worker pay with other artistic departments in a college. (Side note: Interestingly, unlike most other American theatre terminology these two choices are not based on English models, as in the UK these spaces are most often referred to as “Costume Workrooms”).
Continue reading Naming the Workspace: Costume Shop vs Costume StudioPORTFOLIOS FOR ALL YOUR JOBS: Most advice on portfolios for costumers tends to center on straight design portfolios. Yet there are relatively few design jobs out there that consist solely of costume design. My own fairly typical university position at UAF is supposed to consist of equal parts of teaching, research, and public service in my field. In other words, for my job I must, in addition to costume design all shows, teach classes in costume design, costume history, stage makeup and theatre history, do research and publications in my field, do related public services like curate exhibits of costumes for museums, advise local schools about costumes and makeup for shows, teach every sort of cutting and construction in the costume shop, and do periodic displays, posters, and photos for publicity. For me to go to an interview with only a design portfolio would be to leave out more than two-thirds of my work.
Continue reading Portfolios and ResumesResearch Heresy: As a high school student it was my ambition to become a librarian. As a result, my first paying job, as well as years of volunteer jobs and classes, were spent in libraries, working, studying their systems, and hiding out. This put me at a singular advantage all through college and grad school, and I was generally regarded by students and faculty alike as a sort of guru of library research. I could, and did, do major graduate research papers on obscure subjects in 3-7 days, start to finish, and get highest marks. So it was no great surprise to me when the faculty asked me to do a seminar on research for the assembled faculty and students in the department’s weekly lecture series. The faculty sat down expecting I’d give a serious harangue to my fellow students encouraging them to stick their noses to the grindstone of the library, and the students braced to snooze through yet another “scholarly paper”. I seemed to shock everybody, pleasantly or unpleasantly as the case may be, by actually explaining how I did my research. You see, because I understood the system, I understood how to “cheat” the system. So I explained that one could get information out of the library in bulk, in less time, without so much “nose to the grindstone.” I was, I’m afraid, even flip about it. And I admitted that the recent research paper I wrote that was considered by the faculty to be “of publishable quality” on French Revolutionary Festivals, was in fact the product of one weekend’s cramming. Well, the students didn’t fall asleep, and my advisers were looking not at all happy with me, but, I thought: “I have a mission here—I must lead the righteous to the path of better grades, no matter what the cost!” So I did. And here is my lecture (with some new tricks I’ve learned since):
Continue reading Research HeresyTHE IDEA COMES FIRST: There is a strange notion when you first begin designing costumes that some how “high concept” must translate to “high budget” or it isn’t possible. I’m not exactly sure where one acquires this stupid idea, but we, the design students at College of Marin and S.F. State, all had it.
This is simply wrong. Imagination, forethought, and unified concept are the three cheapest things you can do for a show, a fact that our professors attempted to hammer into us in vain. In fact, my post graduate experience showed me that usually these things can make a show happen more cheaply. At all events,there is no excuse for not having them, simply because your budget is small. You need to look at the play script, and talk to your director about ideas even before you talk about money. If you have the right idea, there will be a way to make it happen, money or not. It is ideas in design that get the ball rolling, once you have them, money often becomes irrelevant.
Continue reading Deep Theory, Ideas for Show ConceptsIDEA STEALING: Ideas rarely, if ever, flow spontaneously forth in original brilliance from a mind untouched by outside influences. God does not, in costume design, tap lightly on your shoulder and tell you the All New Perfect And Inspired Way to design Miss Julie for your graduate design seminar. Some people’s designs may look like She did, but She didn’t. Design is a process that works out of, and through, many pieces of information, from costume history, to cultural perceptions of color, to actor’s body proportions, to budget realities, and more. Trying to design costumes without being influenced by outside factors is therefore, pointless.
Continue reading Idea StealingNON SPONTANEOUS CREATIVITY: Sounds like an oxymoron, right? Wrong. All the methods described in the previous chapter can be used to induce creative thought, as well as save creative thoughts acquired earlier. Besides which there are other more active things you can do to get your mind working.
DRAWING ON THE CREATIVE IMAGINATION: Betty Edwards, the author best known for her ground breaking book of drawing instruction: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, wrote another great but lesser-known book called Drawing on the Creative Imagination. This book is full of practical exercises for developing creativity, easy to follow by anyone over the age of seven. I recommend you buy it an d read it ASAP. In addition, reading her work has suggested to me a number of crazy ways to tap into your subconscious design talents. They are:
Remember please, these are brain-flexing exercises so they will be strange sounding. Many of these ideas can be done by whole classes or groups at once.
Continue reading Flex Your Head Mental Aerobics: Exercises for Inducing Creativity Non-SpontaneouslyFaking It: Probably the most important set of skills for a costumer are those various means of faking things, from the simple means of letting gold paint and hot glue pass for embroidery, to the complex means of “faking” creativity. The latter, is probably the most important skill in a costumer’s art and life since she [Sorry I’m being sexist, yes, guys make great costumer’s too, I’ve just had a problem with generically using “he” as a personal pronoun since 7th grade English.] has to create on demand, and can’t wait for her mood or muse to strike.
Continue reading Faking CreativityA Book of General Advice for Costumers
These are a series of dresses I found in a thrift store in Fairbanks, Alaska, and put into the “History Collection” of the UAF Costume Shop in the Theatre Department. They are recently made (1980s-1990s) “Old Believer” dresses. Old Believers are a conservative offshoot of the Russian Orthodox Church that broke off from the main Orthodox church after Peter the Great’s reformation of the Orthodox rituals in 1700. Large numbers of Old Believers emigrated from Russia during the 20th Century because of religious persecution from the Communist government. Several small towns in Alaska are largely colonies of this religious group. These dresses most probably are from one of these towns. The traditional dress of Old Believers is a modern adaptation of traditional Russian peasant dress. Women’s dress is based on the Sarafan. These dresses include several unusual features that make them immediately identifiable as modern Sarafans:
Continue reading 1980s-1990s “Old Believer” Dresses from Alaska
