Mr. Blanco, 34, is designing Jeremy O. Harris’s “‘Daddy,’” which begins performances at the Pershing Square Signature Center on Feb. 12. Set poolside, on the periphery of the Los Angeles art scene, the play (a coproduction from the New Group and the Vineyard Theater) namechecks Gucci sunglasses, an Hermès Birkin bag, a Tiffany bracelet — items Off Broadway budgets won’t cover.
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Montana Levi Blanco’s savvy costume shopping reminds me of Halloween and Spirit Week in high school, when everyone would go thrifting for looks. I admire his philosophy of seeking the more economic option, especially because it is so feasible with inexpensive stores like Forever 21. Blanco uses the “restriction” of a smaller budget to boost his creativity rather than limit it. The fact that he grew up playing with fabric scraps and wire reminds me a lot of the obscure projects we are often assigned for classes. It can occasionally be difficult to see the intention behind these prompts, but Blanco reveals that it has helped him because he “thinks about color palette like a visual artist does.” His extensive education (Oberlin, Brown, Yale) in multiple different majors has not prevented him from appreciating the fashion of non-affluent members of society. His openness to all cultures and perspectives in reference to clothing has allowed him to create beautiful and meaningful designs onstage.
I really do think the most innovative designs come from when the budget does not allow to just go out and buy exactly what you want. I think what Levi Blanco is doing is probably very hard, and yet there is no doubt that he is incredible at it. The way he thinks about clothes and fashion especially considering the fashion of people in less affluent communities. I think his designs are beyond thoughtful, he seems to put himself in the true life of the characters of maybe shop the way they would shop. What I find most impressive about Levi Blanco’s designs is the way he researches before he designs and how his research changes what his initial design ideas were, like how he studied Brooklyn street style while designing “Fabulation”. The thought put into the mixture of women and men’s clothing while costuming “Eddie and Dave” I think is a level of detail and thought not often seen in all designers.
To be honest, I started reading this article only because I was curious how the few preview paragraphs would be resolved after mentioning a number of expensive items and then saying that Blanco wouldn’t have the budget for them. I can certainly appreciate a good costume design in a production, but it’s really not my area of expertise or interest, and I usually don’t find articles about them particularly interesting. I also usually avoid articles profiling individual artists; they can sometimes be interesting reads, but not particularly conductive to responses. I expected to read a paragraph or two, find the answer to the first paragraphs, and then go back to looking for another article more in my lane. Five minutes later, I suddenly realized that I was still reading. Mr. Blanco’s designs were extremely engaging to me. The conceptual explanations of each look were straightforward and interesting, and yet they didn’t overpower the aesthetics of the looks, something that I think many designers (including myself) struggle with. Finding the balance of concept and result without creating distracting designs is often difficult. In the photographs of Mr. Blanco’s costumes, no particular outfit drew too much attention to itself or seemed out of place, and yet each one seemed to clearly say something about the character who was wearing it. Thats a difficult balance.
This article caught my eye because of its title and I wanted to know how to do it myself. It’s fairly simple- just buy cheaper clothes. The only thing is that you have to search a little harder for the good pieces but its still virtually the same. I think this article just goes to show that you do not need a ton of money in order to looks good, because if that was the truth then almost everyone would look terrible. Especially nowadays, there stores that recreate items that a sought after by the public and make it significantly cheaper therefore increasing the appeal and in turn satisfying the customer. Even people who do have money to buy nice things that are “fashionable”, don’t know how to style it, so you basically can’t even tell that its an expensive item. Overall, I agree with the argument and story of the article and I admire Montana Levi Blanco for voicing this message.
I know a lot about designing a show on a budget. Throughout high school, my director would hand me $300 for the scenery and props and say, “make it happen.” It was a fun challenge, but the part I struggled with most was trying to be a conscious consumer while saving money. It’s a very difficult challenge that lead me to Goodwill and Creative Reuse type places for props rather than Walmart or Amazon, but I couldn’t purchase environmentally conscious lumber with my budget the way I would have wanted to.
Same goes for this article, they mention Forever 21 and Zara, which are “fast fashion” companies that I prefer not to support, but they do provide great cheap costuming options so I understand the appeal, and we use them in our own shop quite often. This wasn’t really the direction I planned on taking this, but conscious theater and conscious living are things that are very important to me.
I really like this article about Montana Levi Blanco’s journey with costuming on a budget because I can really relate to it. In high school, I once costumed the female version of The Odd Couple for only $50, just by using Goodwill as my primary resource. I enjoy costuming on a budget because it almost feels like a game. Blanco talks about his journey to places like Earrings Plaza to find expensive looking jewelry for a good price. I think as costume designers one of the biggest challenges to face is how to make cheap things look good. That’s where the artistic abilities really make or break a costumer. If you have the ability to make literal garbage look like a million dollars, you’re doing something right. It’s not overly difficult to upcycle things into beautiful costumes if you get into the right mindset—I once made a dress out of old cardboard boxes and crayons.
It is always to interesting to read up on what current costume designers are doing in terms of their inspirations, sourcing, and approaches to their work. Montana Levi Blanco is a wonderful example of a designer who understands his characters at their truest level. It is one thing to understand the traits of a character as they are written in a show. It is another to understand them so intimately, as real people, to know immediately what kind of nail polish that character would have on. It is only natural for people to accessorize-- most people do it all the time, consciously or not. Mr. Blanco knows that these decisions have to come from an organic place, which means that they don’t have to-- and even shouldn’t-- be wearing pricey name brands and pristine new pieces across the board. The use of quirkier stores like Earrings Plaza, is clever yet totally natural considering the energy and flavor of the city and the characters he has had to dress in his career. I have the utmost admiration and respect for this designer because he puts the vision and the spirit of the characters above complaints about budget and technical construction.
I really liked this article because not only was it a look into a costume designer, it also talked about some of the very real parts of this industry - money. When I was in high school, my budget for costumes was really small and I had to basically pull and alter everything from storage with the exception of a few items. Fast fashion stores were a great way for me to get a lot of new costumes without breaking the budget. When they were talking about that in the article, I really related to him. I might hate fast fashion and never want to wear it myself, but it has its uses. Another thing I really liked was looking at the pieces he had costumes and him explaining some of his choices. He really understands people and the way they express themselves through clothing, something that I really envy and wish I could do.
The constraint of trying to keep costs low really breeds creativity and innovation. You piece together an assortment of different things in order to get a look that you want without just buying it as is, and honestly I’ve been trying to get better at doing that myself. I’ve been more and more going to places like Goodwill to see what kinds of things I can find to frankenstein my projects, and it’s definitely been helping to save some money. I think a lot of people in the design program struggle sometimes with spending too much when trying to make things for classes. I like how in the article Mr. Blanco talks about how he thinks about fashion and how people in ‘less affluent’ communities express it. I think it’s a really in depth take on costume design. I also enjoyed the examples of his work that was provided in the article that really show how much thought went into them.
Sometimes when doing susan projects I come in worried about money. Worried that the type of material I have in mind aren’t accessible, and sometimes that is the case. During my first project I went to Michael's (not creative reuse), there I spent the most money on a Susan basic design project (so far). An amount I don’t think I could afford if I spent the same amount for each project. That project has been my least successful. Now I spend under $30, which hasn’t been so much of a burden. It’s been the opposite of a burden, ever since I went to creative reuse, and became much more comfortable with the idea of taking objects and making them apart of something else. The limits of price, and select available object, have actually made me be able to produce things I like in Susan’s class. I have learned that with limitations come freedom.
This article of course caught my eye like everyone else because of the title. Most New York Times, Variety, and Vanity articles always peak my interests, and let me tell you honey, they deliver!!! It really does shows that you don’t need a super endowed budget to produce a good looking show. The stores mentioned, like Forever 21 and Zara, which are places I shop as well, are even used in our costume shop. They provide trendy and current options, and even for some periods you wouldn’t think since trends do come and go, in a cheaper price range. While in my high school, our costume budget was pretty wealthy for our show season, I wish we had considered more options like shopping in this way instead of just going for something because it’s expensive it must be “well made”. Like many have said in the comments, I have tons of respect for this designer and his innovative influence on the industry!
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