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Any designer knows that without talented craftspeople to make your vision come to life, there is no point putting pen to paper. I have been fortunate enough to have worked with many of these people and I am very grateful for their work.
All of these gorgeous hats were made for me by a friend of mine. The very talented Mr Phillip Rhodes – Milliner Extraordinaire, gave his up his time to make these beautiful hats for a production of “Hello Dolly” that I designed again for an amateur theatre company in Melbourne Victoria.
This was a very low budget production and the wonderful thing about Phillip’s hats (apart from how spectacular they are) is that these ones were all made using off cuts and scraps of fabric from the dresses we made. It is very true to say that Phillip’s work finished the frocks off perfectly.
Many people worked hard on this show with me. Another friend of mine – Jocelyn Creed – made all of Dolly’s frocks. Both Phillip and Jocelyn are professionals that were happy to make these for nothing for me because, apart from anything else, they love what they do and in Australia there is not a huge opportunity for such talented people.
It is very frustrating to see talent like this go unused. There is so much talent of this calibre in Australia and a large percentage of it is being wasted. People such as Sarah Douglas, Claire Lambe, Sue Ferriman, Kelly Farrow and Rosalinde Surace all of whom spend there time doing work for lots of gratitude but little money while we should be celebrating them as great artists.
We need to start celebrating and appreciating the work of these people and all of the other costumers world wide who are yet to get their due..
This video is also from the 2006 Whitehorse Musical Theatre Production of Beauty and the Beast.
In the number “Gaston”, there are only human characters. Even though this was a nice break from all of the “creature” outfits we had to make, there was still a lot of work involved.
Every costume was made from scratch. This is included hats, shirts, trousers/breeches, waistcoats, jackets, bodices you name it. We even bought or had boots made especially – a very costly but very effective thing to do. I always think that a lot of costumers forget the shoes. It more than likely comes down to budget restraints in amateur companies, but you will find that some large companies – for example The Melbourne Theatre Company- often don’t put the time into footwear that they should and as a result end up with a slap-dash finish. I know I am going to get crucified for saying that but hey, it’s only my opinion.
Keeping to a “Disney-esque” style, I mixed periods a little in Beauty and the Beast. I tried to stay mainly around a cartoon version of an eighteenth century look. The Villagers and the “Silly Girls” are basically 18th century combined with some modern fabrics and hairstyles. You will find touches of the Victorian period all through as well as some Elizabethan styles among some of the male villagers. This doesn’t always work I guess, but I think that by using similar fabrics and colours, I was able to create a “familiar” look set in a “non-period”. Obviously this is only suitable for certain shows, but it was something I enjoyed doing and look forward to doing again. I think that in a lot of musicals, period accuracy doesn’t always have to be the most important element of a costume design.
I have to say an enormous thank you to Shane Munsen, who – as well as playing the role of Gaston- styled an enormous number of the wigs for me. While I am on the topic, this show wouldn’t have come abouts without the help of a lot of my friends who gave their time and talent to make this show look great. You know who you are.
This is “Be Our Guest”, a number from a production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” that I designed the costumes for in 2006. It was for an amateur theatre company in Melbourne, Australia.
The budget wasn’t bad for an amateur company, but it was still limiting for the amount and type of costumes we had to make. Many things (the knives, forks and spoons, Cogsworth, Mrs Potts in particular) were made from “yoga mats” which are basically PEV foam but it is much cheaper to buy them from places like The Reject Shop for $2 a mat than from a proper foam supplier for $15 a sheet which is not much bigger than a yoga mat.
This does come with the problem of using contact adhesive which gives off some pretty horrible fumes. This foam can also be heated and moulded into different shapes – also giving off fumes but yielding a great result. We were lucky enough to have the use of a spray booth to do this in and with the assistance of masks and protective clothing we were able to come away from this relatively unscathed.
The beauty of this foam is that once it is joined – particularly in spherical shapes, it is self-supporting to an extent and doesn’t need any inner structure. This makes life very easy when having to come up with multiple costumes. This works up to quite large shapes. The Cogsworth costume was made entirely of this foam and except for the addition of a door made from timber and perspex and one support across the “hem” at the back of the jacket, was almost completely self supporting. It did require shoulder straps so that it would swing as he walked, but all in all it was a light and usable costume.
Mrs Potts, was made by a friend of mine, Kelly Farrow. The bottom of the “tea pot” is made with a “crinoline” base that she altered the bottom half of to come in towards the actresses feet. It was covered in polyester fibre and then in the fabric of the outfit. Her “bodice was made from the yoga mat foam and then covered in a layer of polyester fibre and the fabric of the outfit again. My description makes this sound like it was simple, but it was a lot of work and she managed to get it looking beautiful and hanging very well.
