Thursday, January 31, 2019
Backstage with costume designer Suz Pisano
Theater | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh City Paper: My mom had bridal shops, and I grew up working there. My grandmother was a seamstress; my aunt was a seamstress. My Barbies had mink stoles and brocade gowns that they made out of scraps that were on the ground. Then I went to college to do something else, and it was great, and then I didn’t want to do it anymore.
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3 comments:
From the title of this article, I accepted it to be about theatre, but I’m really glad it was not about a costume designer for theatre and was rather about a costume designer for dance, burlesque, and wrestling because those are all areas that I really don’t know anything about. Something that makes total sense that I guess I would not have really thought about is that the material of the costume matters so much while working with wrestlers because of how rough they can be and how abrasive the floor can be. I also never realized how competitive the wrestlers were about who makes their costumes until I read this article. As I mentioned I do not know anything about Burlesque so it was really interesting to hear about how she has to make clothing look good from the inside and the outside as well as read what she said about how the costume works for what the performer wants and how the costume enhances the dance.
It’s so interesting to hear about such unique applications for costume design and the respective challenges that they come with. Not only does the costume designer have to consider aesthetics and overall look, but in burlesque and wrestling, function is almost just as important. They are part of the show and experience and should enhance the action without getting in the way of the person wearing the costume. With burlesque in particular, the ways that the costumes come off can be just as entertaining and unexpected as the dancer’s acting. I can also imagine that the creative process for this type of costume design is very different from the kind of collaboration that occurs amongst a theatrical creative team. Suz Pisano is her own entire design and execution team, but her clients and the kind of action that they’re engaging in are of the utmost importance throughout the entire process.
The sentence caught my attention is this one: "The costume enhances the movement; it doesn’t create it." This statement echos with all the designers and technicians in the performing art industry. Complicate design or delicate automation won't make a show, it takes good story telling to achieve greater performances. Also the experiences from the professionals always inspire me. To see how others before me made their way to the goals they set does strengthen my own determination. How they manage their professional career also seemed to make a valuable example for students like me. I really appreciate her attitude towards the costume she's making, both the open thoughts of design and careful personalized custom making.
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