"The Complete Works..." - Finished Product!

A few months ago, I blogged about the Steampunk Shakespeare concept I was going to use for "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)" at NSCDS.  I also posted this rendering of the costumes as a preview.  The show finished up in October, and I now have the final production photos to share with you!  I tried to stay as true to the concept as I could, but as with all shows that are shopped instead of built, the show evolved around the materials I found as I went along.  In the end, it was a bit more Emo and Goth than Steampunk, but I fell that starting with the Steampunk concept really helped me step out of the boundries of a normal modern-dress show and take risks with the design.  I'm very happy with the end product, and the kids LOVED their costumes... win-win!

If you'd like to skip the slideshow below, the photos are available to view full-screen on my Picasa album.

Not a Costume: Custom Bags for WBEZ

October is always my busiest month, so that's why I'm just now posting these photos from a project I did back in September.  Through the wonders of Facebook networking, I was introduced to a friend of a friend that works for WBEZ - Chicago Public Radio.  The station needed bags made to store and transport highboy tables used for special events.  It was a large project (no, literally - these bags were huge!) but I was happy with how they turned out, and my client was happy, too! 

And the Winner Is...

Well... no one, actually.  The 2 readers that left comments weren't interested in the giveaway for various reasons.  (But thanks Sarah and Kim for your support!)  I did get some feedback offline, however, so thanks to everyone who read and enjoyed my post about Halloweens past.

And if anyone is interested in a Flapper dress, it's still here... 

No-sew Costume Challenge!

When I was a kid, my mother would always make my Halloween costume for me.  And being a kid, I didn't appreciate how awesome those costumes actually were.  I just wanted to get one of those really cool costumes that came in a package with all their bits and pieces put together for me, just like the other kids at school.  One year I actually convinced her to let me buy a costume - I picked this awesome Black Widow Queen costume with spiderweb details and a neat belt shaped like a bat (don't ask me what bats and spiders have in common).  It was AWFUL.  No one knew what I was (no, a Black Widow Queen is not a witch!), and it felt like I was wearing a nightgown.  Plus it practically disintegrated the moment I took it off.  That was the last time I ever bought a costume.

Before

After

I remembered this story recently when I saw a magazine article describing "no-sew" costume ideas, all of which involved a t-shirt, iron-on transfers, and/or silly prop to create a clever play on words - Iron Chef (hat & clothes iron), Fork in the Road (black shirt, white dotted lines, plastic fork), Pumpkin Pie (orange shirt, pi symbol... OK, the nerd in me likes that one).  It really got me thinking... If you don't sew, are your only costume choices a nylon pyjama set disguised as a costume, or a t-shirt with paper taped to it?  I set out to prove that the answer is no.  So I picked a costume idea, gathered up the materials I needed, and came up with a no-sew costume that beats the pants off of anything you could buy, for a fraction of the cost, and only took me 30 minutes to finish. 

Follow the jump to get a full tutorial on how to recreate this on your own, PLUS there will be details on how to enter a drawing to receive this very same dress for your own Halloween costume!

The Scottish Play, or, Why we never, ever say "Macbeth" in a theater...

I had orginally planned to post some photos from a recent project today, but then something happened at rehearsal last night: someone fell off the stage.  Into the orchestra pit.  And thank god there was a safety net because that was not a fall someone should have walked away from.   And why did this happen?  It wasn't because he was goofing off; it wasn't because he didn't pay attention to how close to the edge he was; it was all because someone said "Macbeth".

Theatre folk are a superstitious lot, and even those that claim they aren't superstitious will still obey the taboos out of tradition.  You may have heard of many of these already - don't say "good luck", especially on opening night; don't whistle in a theater; always leave a light on the stage (known as the "ghost light") - Wikipedia has a good list of superstitions, and you can find more with a quick search if you're interested.  But the absolute number one taboo that should never broken is saying "Macbeth" in the theater.  Which sucks if you're performing the play, or like last night, a play that references it.

Why the taboo?  Again, Wikipedia has a great article describing the history of Macbeth's curse, but the simple explanation is BAD STUFF HAPPENS.  Like someone falling off the stage.  Or another person (okay, the same person) falling when a set of temporary stairs collapses.  There's tons of stories out there, many in urban legend "friend of a friend" style, that give good reason for avoiding speaking the play-that-shall-not-be-named.  That's why pretty much everyone I've met in the theatre world refuses to say it, even if they're not superstitious.  Even if you don't think anything will happen, why bring down the wrath of your castmates on your head?  You can say "The Scottish Play", "The Bard's Play", "MacB", "Mackers", or any other variation you can think of, just never, ever, EVER say "Macbeth". 

Before you go, share your own horror stories about the Scottish Play, and enjoy this video from "Slings and Arrows" giving their opinion about the whole business.  Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go spin around three times and spit.  There's another rehearsal tonight and the pit is still open...

Just a Quick Look...

Here's a sneak peak of my design for "The Complete Works...Abridged".  More to come in the future!

Trash to Treasure: A 1960s Bridesmaid Becomes a Tudor Princess

Very rarely do I get a chance to design and build something from the ground up.  Usually time or budget dictates that I have to find an existing piece and alter it to fit my design.  When I'm working in a low-budget situation, this calls for some serious creativity.

Take this piece here:

Fugly dress before I get my hands on it

Peach taffeta, high neckline, lace collar - some bridesmaid was probably cursing her friend the whole time she was wearing this.  But even as ugly as it is, it had great potential for a children's production of "The Prince and the Pauper".  Let's look at the good points of this dress that makes it work for a Tudor-esque gown: high rounded neckline, fitted bodice that ends at the natural waist, long sleeves that puff slightly at the top and end tight on the wrist, and a full skirt that is pleated instead of gathered and lies flat in the front.  Here's an example of the period lines that I'm looking at:  

Yes, the fugly dress will look like this.  Sort of.

With these basic lines of the period in mind, it took only a few minor changes to turn this ugly duckling into a swan princess:

First, I removed the lace collar.  Then I added a piece of coordinating brocade to create the inset on the top of the gown.  This was done by putting the dress on a dressform and tracing the shape and seamlines onto a piece of tracing paper.  Once I had my shape, I cut out the fabric, sewed it together at the shoulder seams, and attached it directly to the dress.  I didn't need to worry about finishing the raw edges because they were hidden by the trim.  With some carefully placed trim around the inset and down the front of the dress, I created the look of a wide neckline and front-opening bodice.  A bit more trim around the wrists to tie everything together, and a full petticoat worn under the dress, and our Tudor lady-in-waiting is born! 



After!



Close up of the inset details

Now, would this work for Chicago Shakespeare?  No.  But it was perfect for a children's production, and with the right headpiece and jewelry it was completely believeable.  It also cost a whopping $15 and took me less than 2 hours to complete, making it easier to produce the other 30-some costumes I needed for this show.  Two-fold moral of today's story:  First, even if you have the ability make a stunning period-perfect recreation, it's not always necessary or practical.  Second, next time you need a costume - whether it's for a play or Halloween - instead of getting discouraged because you can't find exactly what you need, break it down into parts and look for something that has the same qualities as what you're looking for.  Then make it exactly what you need!    

Emo, Steampunk, and Shakespeare - Oh my!

So my next show at North Shore Country Day School is coming up in October, and a few weeks ago I got a chance to sit down with the director and talk about her concept.  The show is "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)".  If you haven't heard of it or seen it, the basic idea is that a very small group of actors performs every play Shakespeare ever wrote - in under 2 hours.  Yeah.  Complete hysterical chaos.  The best way to summarize the director's concept is "Emo kids put on a show in the park".  It made me think of eccentric, thrown-together, pseudo-artsy costumes and set.  It also gives me a chance to incorporate one of my favorite fashion genres, Steampunk.

What's Steampunk, you ask?  Picture a modern world stuck in the Victorian era, where mechanical objects are still run on steam power instead of electricity.  You've probably seen movies that use the visual language of Steampunk but didn't realize it.  This website has a great list and definition, if you're curious to know more.  I just love the idea of using the historical fashion of Steampunk combined with the dark gothic look of Emo for Shakespeare.  I'm not the only one, apparently, because while I was researching I found some really awesome production photos from Curio Theatre's "Twelfth Night".  These are the kind of photos I love to find when I'm researching, because I can see what someone else has tried, what did or didn't work, and use that to build and enhance my own design concept.  Why re-invent the wheel when I can build a jet-pack instead?

So enough talking - here's some inspiring research to get this thing started!



Add a few neck ruffs, make the colors a little more dark and garish, this group's ready for some Shakespeare!



This girl could have gone to my high school.  Perfect goth-emo-steampunk mix.



The original Steampunk Twelfth Night.  (Anyone who knows my husband, look where they're from!!!)



I could fill this whole page with pictures and not scratch the surface of my research.  And did I mention that another inspiration for my design is the TV show "Carnivale"?

I really love dark, dirty, strange looks.  And since this show is just one week before Halloween, it'll be perfect to raise the weird factor a few notches.  Now that my mind is racing with ideas, it's time to go do renderings!

It's my first post - So who am I, and what am I doing here?

The first post of a blog is supposed to be profound, right?  It's a new journey, a first step, a commitment to setting down your private thoughts on virtual paper.  Dramatic enough for you?  Damn it Jim, I'm a designer, not a playwright. (yes, you will see occasional Star Trek references here, get used to it)  My thoughts are usually expressed visually, but I am taking that first step into the written word.  So why?

As I said before, I'm a designer.  A costume designer.  And I never thought it was anything exceptional until I got the chance to start answering the question "so what do you do?" with that answer.  The responses fall into two categories: those who nod and say "oh, that's nice" like I just told them I beg for spare change dressed like a robot on Michigan Ave, and those who say something like "Wow.  So what exactly do you do?"  And I never really have a good answer for them.  The reason is I do so much under the mantle of Costume Designer that I never know how to start. 

So here's my answer to those people out there that what to know what the heck I do for a living.  I plan on putting it all on the interweb for you to see.  Step by step, project by project.  What's my goal?  Well, like I said, it's a good way to explain what I do.  But I also want to show any one who's interested some tricks I've learned, shortcuts for making things look awesome, and just share my general enthusiasm for creating really cool things out of nothing at all.  And hey, just maybe someone will find my blog and want to hire me.  Because seriously - this is a fun job!