Emergency costumer jumping in

[breakinglight11]

So Margaret lost their lead costumer due to unfortunate family circumstances a little while ago, leaving them just with two assistants who are eager to help but don't really know anything about costuming. Margaret is less than two weeks out from performance, and is kind of in a bind, so I told Plesser that if there was nobody else by Monday night, he could give me a call and I'd see that it got done. I was going about my business Monday wondering if they were going to need me, half-hoping they'd call because I like helping out, half-hoping they wouldn't because it's not like I don't have anything else to do. But a little after 9:30 I got the buzz, and was asked to come to the theater to hear what was needed. Amusingly, I found myself thinking, "Suit up. We're going in." It's important to me that things go well for HTP, so it's good to be able to help ensure that in a small way.

While I believe I can do a good job with this, it's not going to be my best work ever. I am going off of the designs of the old lead and prioritizing the effort to give Dave what he wants, so my personal costuming theory is not going to come in very much. I believe in normal circumstances that every costume needs to be chosen to work with every other costume, particularly when it comes to color. Color choices should all be coordinated with each other, and I like it best when they all can have meaning. Mostly here I'm just going for getting the right styling and ensuring that the characters are dressed differently enough that the audience can remember who they are. The aesthetic is military, and I have seen more than a few shows with a military look where everyone is dressed the same (UNIFORMS, ANYONE?) and gets lost in a sea of olive-drab and a cloud of camo. Gah, camo especially can give you an effective like a herd of zebras, where the patterns blend into one another and predators have a hard time seeing where one zebra begins and the next ends. Audiences, particularly with a show that's not so easy to understand, tend to like it when they can say, "Oh, it's the guy in the green coat again. I remember him." Otherwise, you get a lot of, "Who's that dude again?"

Comments

[in-water-writ.livejournal.com]

John has an officer's jacket, pants, and hat, though the pants are unlikely to fit anyone who isn't exceptionally svelte. Also he has a military shirt.
Pics:
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Damn I love a man in uniform.

[in-water-writ.livejournal.com]

Right, because I forget to use my words: if you need extra pieces, you're welcome to them.

One thought I've had regarding military uniforms: if you've got a lot of people in officer uniforms or dress uniforms, maybe use differently colored sashes to 'indicate rank,' and then just, y'know, give everyone a different sash color and chalk it up to everyone being a different rank?

I'm been known to use pashmina scarves as military sashes.

[breakinglight11.livejournal.com]

Aww, damn! We actually do have a boy more or less of John's proportions (Andrew Prentice, if you remember him from the fancy party) but he needs a different sort of costume. :-)

[in-water-writ.livejournal.com]

I remember Prentice. What kind of costume *does* he need? John doesn't have a lot of costuming, but he has a little; a couple of trench coats, the purple coat he wore as the Joker, some hats, that sort of thing. A pirate shirt, pirate boots, though I'm assuming those aren't needed. ;)

The military jacket isn't quite so size specific... the person would have to be tall, but it definitely fits people of average weight.

[laurion]

"my personal costuming theory is not going to come in very much"

Yup, sometimes you're just hired to execute someone else's vision.... that's the high flying world of theater, no? ;)