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October 31, 2019 - Image 11

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
b-side
Thursday, October 31, 2019 — 5B

B-SIDE: SECONDARY

It’s Halloween, and that means I have to find a costume. It’s not that I don’t have any ideas
— I have plenty. There’s always Mulan, I’ve wanted to be a piece of sushi since freshman year
and, quite honestly, Waldo doesn’t seem too bad right about now. But I have a few issues with
Halloween costumes. First of all, Halloween is in the middle of the semester and I like to try and
DIY what I wear; not a very good combination of activities, if you ask me. Second, you’re telling me
I have to spend money on something I’m probably only ever going to wear once? I will do that for
Christmas and maybe even New Year’s, but Halloween is a no-go.
None of this is to say that I don’t like costumes or Halloween. I love both of them, it’s just
that together, they can add up to a lot of work. So this year, instead of stressing over making a
Halloween costume, I went to talk to the University Costume Shop about how they make costumes
for various shows. Though the amount of work and time that goes into making a Halloween
costume is daunting, it’s nothing compared to what goes behind the scenes for many University
productions.
Before actually going to the costume shop, however, they recommend you watch “What to
Expect at the University Costume Shop.” It’s an introductory video and gives an overview of
everything from how to get there to what happens at your final fitting. Unsurprisingly, the video is
entertaining and informative, a well-made production perfect for anyone who wants to take a visit
to the costume shop but finds themselves without the necessary talent to be cast in a University
production.
Located on the second floor of the Walgreen Drama Center on North Campus, the University
Costume Shop is a dream for performers and sewers alike. Upon walking in, dress forms are
scattered throughout the shop and sewing machines sit in rows, some mid-project, others available
for whatever the staff throws at them. At one point, I was distracted by the fact that some of
the outlets hung from the ceiling, suspended on a track that could follow someone along as they
ironed a larger piece. To be able to iron all in one go without the length of a cord to hold you back
is something I’ve only dreamed of, and to see it in person at the costume shop was unimaginable.
The physical aspects of the shop, however, would mean nothing without the people who use them.
The costume shop’s team is composed of a costume shop manager, costume designer, wardrobe
supervisor and multiple drapers. All these people come together to create the masterpieces you see
on stage — to listen to them talk to about each of their creations and the shows they’ve worked on
is like stepping into another world.
But how do you even get into that world in the first place? It’s a different process for everyone.
Take Lea Morello, a draper at the University Costume Shop. A philosophy major in college, she has
been working with the costume shop since 2002 and has been in costumes for around 24 years.
Though her love of sewing came from what she was doing as a stay-at-home mom, it started to
become something more when Morello got a job as a part-time stitcher at the University Costume
Shop. From there, she ended up going back to school for theater design and production and,
eventually, found herself at the costume shop as a draper. The rest is history — a really impressive
history, if you ask me.
Others, though, have always known that in some capacity, they’ll end up in theater. Christianne
Meyers, a designer at the costume shop, grew up backstage watching her mother dance and
eventually found her niche as a designer by the time college came around. For her, design was
a way of merging her fascination with behind-the-scenes work and her love for art. With a BFA
from Pace University, she spent a few years working in New York City, where she eventually got
her masters at NYU. Afterward, she stayed in the city freelancing on a variety of projects off-
Broadway and in regional theaters. In time, she realized that working 60 or more hours a week
and living in the competitive culture of the New York City costume industry wasn’t for her. Come
2002, Meyers joined the University Costume Shop along with Morello and has designed 45 shows
in the last 17 years.
While Morello and Meyers are important staples at the University Costume Shop, it is still a
university costume shop, and would be incomplete without the presence of students honing their
craft. Saawan Tiwari, a senior pursuing his BFA in theater design, talked about his life behind
the scenes, a five-year-process that actually started in zoology. Though most of his time had been
spent at a zoo rather than a studio in high school, he always jumped on the opportunity to work
on a school play. His first project? Creating a donkey head for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
With little to no crafting background, Tiwari pulled together what he described as a “helmet
contraption” with a wig glued onto it. Obviously, the donkey head was named Bernard. And while
his first foray into costumes was not the most conventional, what Tiwari did have was a “hot glue
gun and a dream,” the only things you really need to make it in theater.
It took a few steps for Morello, Meyers and Tiwari to make it to the University Costume Shop,
but they all eventually did. So, what does creating a costume actually entail? More often than
not, it starts with the designer working with the director to come up with a vision for the show.
The meetings can range from idea sessions on each side, with directors only coming with vague
concepts of what they want, to detailed brainstorming inspired by a director who has everything
mapped out in their head.
But costumers can’t rely just on what the director wants — they have to know the actual show inside
and out, too. From quick changes between scenes to historical renditions of various characters,
costume designers are resident experts in every show they work on. Oftentimes, the designers and
other costume makers know more about a production than the cast themselves, especially at the
beginning. In order to effectively design a show, Meyers emphasized the importance of being able
to make a decision and move on with it. “Designing is deciding,” according to Meyers. It’s also not
surprising for them to start designing and choosing costumes before the show is even fully casted.
Construction of the costume is everything from the undergarments to the makeup, so being not
only familiar, but intimate with the director’s vision and the show is critical to developing good
costumes.
Understanding a show is an art in and of itself — Meyers noted that sometimes they do brand new
shows while some have been done for centuries. Currently, the shop is working on the University

production of famed opera “La Bohème” and as Meyers said, “they have been singing those same
notes for 200 years.” In a case like “La Bohème,” where the director has put on the show four
times and Meyers herself has worked on it before, designers understand the minute details of the
show already. It’s an entirely different thing when the show has never been done or seen before.
At times, they’re working on something where some of the cast and characters aren’t even worked
out until the first rehearsal. It’s a dynamic job that takes a level of creative flexibility many wish
they had.
Once the designs are worked out, and even as they’re being finalized, they go to a draper, like
Morello, who takes the ideas from their 2-D rendering to a 3-D mockup. This process can often
vary — it might even start from a newly bought piece of clothing. In fact, one of the skirts for the
upcoming “La Bohème” is a dyed skirt from Mod Cloth. When costumes do start from scratch,
however, they go through a rigorous process that transforms them from an idea on some muslin
to a piece of art on stage. Throughout fittings, Morello is constantly adjusting, looking where she
can bring things in and take things out, aware of the fact that a costume is made to fit the person
rather than the person to the costume.
That attitude, however, is a more recent one, especially as more and more people are learning
to embrace their body’s natural curves and lines. Both Meyers and Morello have worked in the
industry for a little over two decades and have been at the University Costume Shop for 17 of those
years. So, not only have they seen changing attitudes when it comes to body positivity, but they
have also seen an increasingly diverse set of casts come through their doors. No longer does the
typical tan work to fit every skin tone of a cast. The costume shop is cognizant of the diversity
of their actors and always takes a skin tone swatch, a basic technique that can go a long way in
making an actor feel comfortable in their costume. Morello highlighted the roles of directors
in facilitating this change. She worked on a production of “Romeo and Juliet” that ignored the
traditional casting and opted instead to explore the tensions that an interracial couple might
experience in the production.
Not everything has changed for the better, though. With how short audience attention spans can
be, the demand for speed has increased dramatically within the industry. Sure, that might mean
more costumes and more shows, but it takes away from the creative process — what you get in
speed, you lose in what Meyers deems “cogitation time,” which is the time that an idea just sits in
the back of your head. Waiting until that moment of revelation and the designs just come together.
Knowing how their creative processes reacts to the speedy needs of various shows is just one
of the ways these artists have been shaped by their experiences working in the costume industry.
Morello noted the importance of knowing your boundaries and how to prioritize projects — she is
still able to make costumes for her grandkids while working at the costume shop by splitting who
gets a costume which year.
Tiwari spent the second semester of his freshman year taking 17 credits and trying to put
together three different shows. One of these shows had a $150 budget for a large ensemble that saw
some questionable communication between designer and director. But he got it done, as an unpaid
freshman, and it was still one of his favorite shows. The lesson here is that 17 credits is never a
good idea, regardless of whether you’re running three shows and volunteering at the same time.
But, beyond that, Tiwari emphasized the importance of pushing your boundaries and figuring out
how to put yourself and what you want first. That is something we could all stand to learn at least
once in our lives.
Meyers drove home the idea that learning to let go is one of the biggest skills you can have as
a designer. As a freelancer, she designed and made two $750 dresses for one of her shows that,
eventually, the director decided to cut from the show. The same director “turned the set upside
down.” So, what is a designer supposed to do when their work is tossed aside? For Meyers, the
answer wasn’t to get angry or hold a grudge: Instead, she ended up shopping at Vivienne Tam’s
studio with Frances McDormand. The whole thing happened relatively early on in her career, and
Meyers was happy to note that now she is able to take things as they are and address problems in a
cool, collected manner. The mark of a true professional.
So, where does all this leave me in my hunt for a Halloween costume? I have a wig. I did not design
a full show or costumes for my grandkids. But it’s a step in the right direction. And, honestly, after
seeing what costumers have to go through, that might be my only step. The staff at the University
Costume Shop have been through it all and still make up a cast worthy of the productions they
help create.

I’ve got big dreams and exactly one hot glue gun: Going
behind the scenes of our sweet University Costume Shop

EMMA CHANG
Senior Arts Editor

FILE PHOTO / DAILY

The costume shop is cognizant of the diversity
of their actors and always takes a skin tone
swatch, a basic technique that can go a long
way in making an actor feel comfortable in
their costume. Morello highlighted the roles of
directors in facilitating this change. She worked
on a production of “Romeo and Juliet” that
ignored the traditional casting and opted instead
to explore the tensions that an interracial couple
might experience in the production.

But costumers can’t rely just on what the
director wants — they have to know the actual
show inside and out, too. From quick changes
between scenes to the historical renditions
of various characters, costume designers are
resident experts in every show they work on.
Oftentimes, the designers and other costume
makers know more about a production than the
cast themselves, especially at the beginning.

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