Britta's CASL Blog: Costume Designer for the Play

Recently, I took on the job of costume designer for the high school's spring play, "The Real Inspector Hound" with Lydia Spilsbury. Although it's hard to fit another thing in next to everything else I'm doing, it's actually quite fun. Today, I drew designs for all of the characters in the play. I also raided my closet and found the perfect outfit for Sydney (who plays Felicity in the play). Lydia and I were previously having a hard time trying to figure out what she could wear. We did spend a lot of time up in the costume department and we picked out a wonderful cocktail dress, however Sydney's character is meant to be in a tennis outfit the whole time. The maid's costume is almost done, all we need is a bonnet, which I fashioned out of a headband and some white cloth I had lying around. Beatrice plays a very flamboyant woman with a whole lot of sex-appeal, which makes her costume very important to her character. Luckily enough, Beatrice's mother had a red cocktail dress with black beaded mesh lying around, so we simply agreed to let her wear that. The men in the play are much simpler. Birdboot and Moon (played by Luke R. and Jared) are two drama critics watching the play being staged (so it is as if the real audience is watching two plays in one). Dressing them will be quite easy. All we need are ties, jackets and nice pairs of dress pants. Major Magnus Muldoon (played by Garage) doesn't have any specific requirements regarding dress code, but I was thinking about having him wear a jacket and a nice pair of pants and having an old blanket covering his legs (as he is in a wheelchair for most of the production). Simon (played by Xan) will be wearing a pair of dress pants, a collared shirt and a sweater. Inspector Hound is a different story entirely. His outfit is meant to be quite ridiculous. He (being played by a she - Nandi) will be wearing a trench coat, rain boots, a pair of baby floaties, and maybe a pair of rain pants and a nice collared shirt. Working so closely with actors and the director (Ms. Hargreaves) while at the same time not being involved in acting in the play is quite odd, but I've found it enjoyable as well. I like watching as my piers find themselves in another piece of theatre. Having artistic direction is also very fun. I get to dress the actors as I see their characters develop onstage. This allows for some changes as the characters become more and more thought out. I've put some images for thought and what I got my inspiration from, below.

1920s Cocktail Dress