Playing Dress Up: A Blog About Costumes

My current Hollywood excursion has involved a lot less alcohol and a lot more money. What could I possibly be spending money on that isn't booze and rent? Costumes.

Have no fear, it's not MY money, but rather that of the production JEB & JEREMIAH: ALIVE IN 2010.

I wouldn't exactly call myself new to the costume scene, but this is only my second costuming excursion in LA (the others, all being for short films in Orange County). Don't get me wrong, there was certainly a high frequency of trips to LA when we needed things we couldn't find in the thrift stores/costume stores/fabric stores in Orange County - but now... now it's all LA, baby.

Costumes are important to any production because they do a fascinating trick. Acting aside, they take a person you could see on the street and make them someone else. It does this not only for the audience, but also for the actor. Costumes are important to actors to find the character inside themselves. Inside the clothes.

Prepare yourself, this is going to be a long one (you wish that what she said. or he. I don't judge). Items of discussion in the most important costuming blog: Design, Film, Theater, Colors, Stores & Jeb and Jeremiah

Lets get into this then, shall we?

DESIGN

I'll admit to you now, I don't sew. It makes being a costume designer difficult. It's on my list of things to learn. So for now, I design and then find the pieces to match my vision. It's difficult, but it works for now. If I had an arsenal of seamstresses my life would be much easier. Design is important though. You've got to know what you want. Walking into the stores I shop at can be an overwhelming experience and if you don't know what you're looking for- you'll quickly get lost in blazers and trench coats and sweaters. that being said, sometimes you stumble upon a piece that throws your design out the window. Be prepared to let it go. The piece you find is better than the one in your head.

FILM

You can get away with a lot less in film, because sometimes the camera is closer to the outfit than you'd ever want. It's for THIS reason that I find pre-made pieces, as opposed to try and make them myself. For S.S. HUMANITY we needed white jumpsuits that we then ended dying light blue for camera. How I wish we could have simply found light blue tops to begin with. The end result was fine, but I was terrified that my uneven bucket dye job would show on camera.

THEATER

Much more freedom, and much more room for fun. It might just be a misguided notion in my head, but I feel like you can get away with so much more on stage because it doesn't need to look as real. You can be extravagant. You can play with color. You can be surreal. I know you can do this in film, but in my opinion you can get away with stylization so much more in theater. Unless you work for Tim Burton. The thing about theater costumes, more than film, is that they need to look like they belong together. Lots of characters on stage need to look like they're from the same world. That's why, when it came to costuming DOG SEES GOD, Anna and I used American Apparel for all our base colors.

Well that... and the fact that we fucking love American Apparel.

COLORS

I love playing with color more than anything else. Sure, you can learn things from fabric and cut, but COLOR, my goodness. I really love colors. All of them. It's my high school background in art, I think, that makes color so important to me. Never just put someone in a color. Every color means something. Every color means multiple things. And what about color combinations? And what about when there's a change in color for an actress? What internal change does it represent? There is a simpler character in JEB AND JEREMIAH who I am costuming in primary colors to illustrate her simple nature. Things like that... things that NO ONE will EVER notice- those are the types of things I love in costuming. In THE SPRINKLER we transitioned the old man from Velcro shoes to lace up to illustrate his gained mobility. Do I think anyone caught it? No. But they registered it subconsciously. (That last bit.... not about color. Sorry!)

Jumping back to the primary colors real quick - if you ever work with me you will quickly learn that primary colors are my signature. It's how I leave my mark on things. I try and incorporate them somewhere in everything artistic I do.

STORES

Squaresville- I first came across Squaresville when costuming A VISIT OF CHARITY. It's a vintage store tucked away on Vermont Avenue. It's phenomenal and I make trips out there often (especially since Ozzie Dots it right over there). Most of the stores I hit up are vintage stores, since most of the things I end up costuming are vintagey feeling, if not set in the past completely.

Ozzie Dots- Part costume store, part vintage store. What more could you ask for? Props? Okay, it's got them too. It's amazing and I could spend HOURS in there. Lesley and I have. Mikey and I have. Alison and I have. It's terrific.

American Vintage- It's on Melrose. It's great and the cheapest of all the vintage stores mentioned here.

Jet Rag- It's huge. The biggest of all of these by far. Two stories of excellence. Sundays they have a 1$ sidewalk sale. Check it out. Also vintage.

American Apparel- I swear I'm not endorsed by them. The plain colors and standard pieces are great building blocks to costumes.

JEB AND JEREMIAH

One of my most daunting challenges yet. A play that starts in the 1920's and then time travels to the present. I needed to be able to create not just one world with costumes - but two.

Here's a look at the two most opposite costumes in the show: Jeb and Jeremiah's and the sexy dancers. If that doesn't make you want to see the show, I don't know what will. Check it out. I had a lot of fun with this one. Hitting all the aforementioned stores. It's gonna be a good one.

The reason I end on Jeb and Jeremiah is so that I can urge you all to see it, as its coming soon. There will be more on Jeb and Jeremiah in the weeks to come. Stay tuned.

Keeping Up Appearances

So much of what we do is looking like we do something. So much of work is looking like you're doing work. So much of success is looking successful. You can never play the game if you don't look the part.

Take, for example, the idea of assistants. How many of us are necessary? And how many of us are here simply to make our bosses look for official/powerful/higher on the food chain? Sometimes quite literally, we find ourselves shopping for our bosses outward appearance. Commenting on their outfits. Making them feel good about how they look (so they in turn, don't rip our heads off).

We're here, not because they can't answer the phone themselves (although, at this point many cannot because they're so used to us) but instead to make it look like they're so busy that they cannot pick up the phone.

What about your room? Is it clean? Why do you clean it? Sure there are sanitary reasons to. Sure it makes it easier to find things. but many of us can live in our messes. We don't, because it hurts our appearance. Invite someone over and you clean. Need to look the part, after all.

Speaking of looking the part, let's think about fashion. An industry dedicated to how we appear. Make-up. Plastic Surgery. Hair Salons. Boutiques. Designer Clothes.

So why do we do it?
Because if you don't appear like you care about yourself. No one else will either.
So clean that room. Buy those jeans. Hire that assistant.

Play the game.



So with that, I'm off to see THE JONESES (a movie, quite literally about keeping up appearances, keeping up with The Joneses.)