Dance Magazine: In much the same way that choreography and performance create a storyline, costumes can transport an audience into a certain mood or time period with fabrics alone. Three costume departments gave us an inside look at how they prep for ballets, Broadway shows and performances on the road.
4 comments:
Costume Design for long running musicals and ballets is its whole realm. Like most of the interviewees said, they have to design things sturdy enough to last long runs but flexible enough to be able to be danced with. I was really interested in the section where Marcc Happel Talks about his work maintaining garments and ensuring they are fresh. IT doesn’t go in depth about if they use those garments or not, but I would like to believe they don’t. I used to do that same type of work for the costumes collection for the University of Puerto Rico, and I helped develop a catalogue, since they have costumes that are more than 100 years old. Collections like those are very valuable as pieces of history! You can look back and see how things used to be made and how have materials and methods changed throughout history. The Costume preservation work holds so much value, and its often overlooked.
What a cool article. I think it is very interesting to read about how Marc Happel has to be not only an intermediary between designers and the shop but also an advocate for the dancers and choreographers. I think a lot of the time I forget how much costuming dancers or actors are about making them feel comfortable and not just executing a design. This is highlighted even more with dance as the dancers are constantly using their bodies in vigorous exercise. The two common threads between these three interviews were the amount of time before a show that the costumes had to be built and thought about as well as the danceability of clothes. I think it is amazing looking at commercial theatre and entertainment to see how long processes can last. It might seem to be a long process for shows at school but all these people take a lot longer to build and design things. Also, there is a challenging juxtaposition of making durable and lightweight period materials or just highly detailed outfits for the close ups of TV. This must be extremely difficult.
Running a costume shop sounds like a fascinating and terrifying thing. Something about the whole going over budget and trusting that a designer will pare down just feels quite uncertain. That being said, the production staff inside of a costume shop feels like they belong to the same family of witches and magicians that the folks of the paint shop do. I mean, truly, the work that they is so detailed and intricate, and yields an incredible result. Being responsible for guiding a fashion designer through the process of designing for the stage, and trying to explain the way that their garments need to be able to move and how the lighting will change the colors sounds like a really challenging role. In the same way, understanding how to build costumes for TV versus onstage is another maze to navigate. I really respect the mastery these people of their craft.
Every time I feel like I have developed a better grasp on the different facets of costume design, something else comes up that makes me rethink the entire department. I really don't think I could ever costume design, especially not for period shows. The research, swatching, scouring, constructing, techniques of sewing, repairing, maintaining, and innovative thinking work too much together for my brain to handle all at once. That is why I love hearing from costume designers so much, especially seasoned designers with decades of experience under their belts. To hear about their processes and responsibilities is awe-inspiring, incredibly satisfying, and immensely gratifying. The sheer knowledge they are able to rattle right off the tops of their heads is so wild to me. Their dedication to their craft is unbelievable. I can only hope to achieve such mastery in my field one day, and until then I regard people like these as role models.
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