Fast Company: Throughout a 30,000-square-foot labyrinth spread across four connected buildings, there are rooms brimming with historic jewelry. Rooms filled with Victorian finery, flapper dresses, evening gowns from all eras, vintage bathing suits. At the core of it all is an apartment. And inside that apartment, you’ll find Melody Barnett, queen of Hollywood’s best-kept secret: Palace Costume.
5 comments:
Oh hey look! Another article on the Palace Costume shop! I guess a bunch of girlies made their way there recently. This article talks about the excessive and obsessive focus of quality and upkeep on the palace studio. much like the Vogue article, there are studying photographs, both old and new, showcasing dazzling pieces. One of my favorites is Mimi Haddon from Chronicle Books where she is in a turquoise, glittery, star-studded straight out of a story book. There is mention of over 500,000 pieces in just Barnett's Holdings, yet she doesn't wear any of them - she wears coveralls most days. I find that so interesting as she probably has an incredible taste for fashion but chooses function overall. I wonder what the future of Palace Costume looks like, and if the lineage will continue with her family legacy. I have a feeling it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
I’m always interested in finding out more about how costume designers procure and curate the costumes for a production, and I feel that I learned a little bit from the contents of this article. I think it is amazing that designers are given a way to be environmentally conscious in their hunt for costumes. Renting existing garments definitely cuts down on the amount of material used, and the amount of clothing that ends up in the landfill. One of the many reasons I didn’t choose to pursue a career path in fashion design, which I considered for a time, was the environmental concerns surrounding fast fashion and consumerism.
It was also interesting from a historical preservation perspective to read that antique and vintage pieces are being saved and repaired. As a lover of historical fashion and history in general, it warms my heart to know that these garments will be remembered through modern day productions.
This seems like a really cool place. It's a bit sad that it's private and there's no way to set up tours, but definitely understandable. I'm sure it would be really cool to be able to walk through the warehouses and look at all of these costume pieces from different eras. The inventory system also sounds like it would be really useful. It would be nearly pointless to have such a large inventory if no one knew what all was in it. At my old school, we had a decently sized costume storage room, and we attempted to sort it all by era and make a full inventory. However when it comes to making an inventory, it is most definitely easier to start that project from the beginning, rather than trying to tackle it when you already have hunredes or even thousands of pieces. I think it would be really cool as well to talk to the lady behind this whole place and find out more about her. I would love to ask her what continues to inspire her in this line of work, especially after a long career.
This article was super interesting to read because it focuses on something that many people don’t immediately think of. Hearing about the way that Melody Barnett works and has grown her shop highlights how much care goes into her work and the passion that she has for costumes and the archive that she maintains. I think that the biggest costume warehouse being one that was purely based on passion rather than money or a large corporation making one for hollywood to capitalize on demand is super inspiring to the field of entertainment that I will work in some day. What’s more I like that Barnett already has the help of her grandkids that will most likely take over Palace Costume some day. I have little experience with costumes in general, having only focused on lighting and other technical elements for most of my theatre experience so far. So reading about someone who loves the craft and caring for vintage clothes is so fascinating to learn from.
If anything, this article has definitely convinced me to look more into the book that details a lot of the history and collection of Palace Costumes. What is detailed just here is incredibly impressive to hear about and astounding to now know how so many shows get great help from a business as great as this. What also intrigued me is that not only does Palace Costume provide access to all these great materials, they organize it and work with their customers in such a way that it expands their vision and allows them to be surrounded by similar inspiration. This is what I think might make Palace Costume such a successful business as not only do they provide access to one of the greatest collections to borrow from, they do it in such a way that provides their designers with the tools to make their art and make it great.
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