Bubble Skirts and Black Binding

I was recently reminded of the importance of getting our of my box. 

I work on a lot of weddings. I make prom dresses and other custom garments. I do a lot of theater. My favorite shows are what I refer to as "big skirt shows"- if it requires a petticoat to make the ladies skirts look right, then it is my kind of show. 

The musical I worked on this spring was definitely not that kind of show. The director wanted our production of Seussical to look like a brightly colored, animated Dr. Seuss book. It was good for me. It stretched me- made me step outside my box, think new thinks, and try new things.

Once the show was over, my next task was a custom prom dress. As I worked on it, I realized that two of the techniques I had used on Seussical costumes would greatly enhance this dress. The Seussical bird girls had bubble skirts that were full, fun, and bouncy. 

The prom dress was floor length, but bubbling it made the drape and the bunches hang beautifully. We used hundreds of yards of black binding to give the Seussical costumes that cartoon look. The prom dress had a multi colored, draped shoulder bow. Adding black binding to it made it pop and pulled the elements of the dress together. 

I don't think this would have occurred to me if I hadn't just used the technique elsewhere, which makes my point. To stay fresh and creative, you need to step outside your usual zone. Mix it up. Read blogs, see a show, look at and analyze pictures of other designer's work, try a new technique, take a class or experiment with other art forms. Think outside the box. Think new Thinks. You'll be glad you did!

Steampunking Dr. Seuss

It has been a wild and crazy, no time for blogging couple of weeks, as I having been working feverishly on costuming Seussical the Musical. The director wanted the "human that looks kind of like an animal" look for the main characters, which is harder than you might think to do well. The most challenging costume design was for Mayzie the Amazing Bird. She is what you might call a "bad girl", but this is a youth theater musical, and we wanted to keep it clean. The costume needed to be G rated and still express Mayzie's style and attitude. I drew several versions of her costume and none of them satisfied me. Then one day, it hit me- I needed to Steampunk it. For those of you that aren't familiar with Steampunk clothing, think Victorian plus punk. Very often clothing items are also worn differently than they would have been when they were worn routinely. 

In this instance, Mayzie is wearing things that are traditionally undergarments on the outside (corset and bloomers).She is dressed in red, black and white. She has a bustle and train, a funky fascinator, and the costume is rather sassy. She is also wearing a striped cami, striped tights, feather earrings and hair extensions, a choker, knitted mitts and a boa. 

The feeling of a tail was created by adding marabou trim to the layers of sparkle tulle that were used to create the bustle and train.

Red high heels would have been a nice touch, but she needs to dance and navigate stairs and we don't need any broken ankles, so we settled for black character shoes. This show also features a gang of monkeys. In keeping with the theme of pop culture, we have decked them out in hip hop style.  :)