And there’s the problem. There just aren’t enough tutus to go around.
“Fashion colleges don’t teach students how to sew; they just teach them to be designers,” says Opera Philadelphia’s costume director Millie Hiibel. “I get applicants who don’t even know how to sew on a button.”
4 comments:
I connect with this article in such a weird way. I came here to be a costume designer because I know I don’t have the skills to be a stitcher, draper, tailor, or any other costume production staff. Costume design is much easier, which is slightly surprising. Sewing is actually a very difficult art that most people take for granted. That is precisely why hand sewn items cost so much money: it’s extremely difficult. It takes years and years of training in order to be a mediocre seamstress. Sewing well and fast takes decades of learning and skill. The only way to learn the skill is to do, and costume supplies are not cheap. Quality fabric is quite expensive, and depending on the type of fabric, sewing can be a lot harder to do. I wish that I had the skill to go into costume production, but it is such a difficult industry that I’m not surprised that there are not many stitchers left.
This is indicative of a greater trend that de-values hand-made work. Unfortunately, now this is a the reality of this trend. There is a cultural movement that de-values things that are not efficient, cheap, and sturdy. This is in my opinion is post industrial revolution. Individuality of product is coming back, but is still not as valued as is sustainable.
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I am so happy to say that here are Carnegie Mellon University are fighting the good fight to not let the tutu die. All production students take a dance wear class and make a classic tutu. I am so excited to learn this art next semester and become more familiar with how to fit a ballerinas body. While there are a few different types of tutu, the article of correct, a tutu requires certain knowledge that the general seamstress may not have. Hopefully they will be skilled enough to complete the tutu, but formal tutu making isn’t widely taught, it is becoming harder to get new costumes made for classical ballets. It is also harder to kept skilled labor if they are only called in as over hire, the uncertainty of income can be off-putting and even if they love making tutus for your company, they may need to choose to company that had year round employment.
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