Pants Galore!

Some of the new donations!

Since I've moved from St. Louis to Champaign, IL I've interviewed at a couple places, unpacked my things, and tried to improve my website and portfolio. I've accepted a management position since here in Champaign the costume design positions are insanely slim and not really paid. I'm about to start working as a costume design assistant for Oklahoma! and I really can't wait. Since Wednesday morning I've been helping (It's kind of like being the Costume Shop Manager Assistant) the Costume Shop Manager (who is also the designer I'm assisting, go through the costume shop and organize everything. Since the shop is also where the costumes are kept it's not in the best shape. People leave stuff on the front tables instead of putting it away, or they put it in the wrong box, or they move stuff into the wrong sections. It's crazy how people put things everywhere without thinking. Next week starts measurements of all the actors and actresses and then BAM we'll be pulling costumes.

Most of the brown pants
ready to be put away.

In preparation for pulling for such a huge cast, we've been going through the shop's costumes. Wednesday I moved all the prom & wedding dresses to a new spot and then shuffled the period section around until it was less chaotic and crowded. Yesterday and today I've been focusing on pants. We both thought it wouldn't be such a huge task...well...the boxes all were labeled but what was inside them was wrong. So I've been going through the new donations and labeling & sizing them. Then I went ahead and went through almost all of the rest of the pants boxes to make sure everything was labeled, sized and would go in the right color box. It's a very time consuming job but it's neat to see the entire stock of pants and to get an idea of options for the show.

One of my favorite boxes to go through is the "Loud Pants" box. It has crazy patterns, colors, and more. It's just a cheerful box and has some great options. I was able to add a couple new pairs to the loud box and if any more need to be included then we'll need another box, which is a great thing in my opinion. I wish we had this many women's pants options, but I may just have to try some of these on for fun! Or somehow bribe my boyfriend to come to the shop and model some pairs for me so I can blog about them and have decent pictures to show off. 

*Side note: I've started a tag on Instagram for whenever I post neat costumes from the shop (or other places) & it's #mycostumefind so check it out for more finds!

Just some of the "Loud Pants."

Senior Collection: Finished!

Pictured L/R: Tim, Eric, Sarah, Gabby, Brianna (Me), Dairius, Megan, Kevin, Greg.

On Saturday, April 2nd, I showed my senior collection at 11am and 3pm. My song was Lydia by Highly Suspect and my choreography was pretty simple. During the song Gabby would untie her skirt from around her waist transferring her look from a short draped dress to a floor length evening gown look. I have a few really awesome shots of her in action that I will post soon.

Overall I loved my collection. I got really lucky and my models were amazing people. They were always attentive, on time, excited, eager, good listeners, just the whole nine yards of awesomeness. They also all got along really well, which helped me because I was never stressing out about them or their looks. They all had the same eye makeup for the show, but the girls had red lips while the guys had their lips look as though they were sewn shut. I felt that without hair and makeup and accessories, the outfits could go very punk or very prim and proper. Which is one thing I loved about my looks. Drawing inspiration from bands like My Chemical Romance and then from the classic looks of French tailoring. I really liked playing with accessories and makeup to get the full effect. I like to think my models would make awesome characters in a MCR music video.

My aim was to have the guys have really similar styling but they little differences. For example, they all have different patterned socks and Dairius has a hat to add more black into his look. I wanted the girls to all be different with their styling. For the red and black dress I chose a simple gold ring and a men's pocket square to tie around her wrist. She also got black thigh highs with bows and black ankle boots. Gabby's look had a lot of patterns and my head piece I made in London, so I chose simple black triangle earrings and black heels reminiscent of the Spice Girls style. Megan's look has a Harley Quinn feel to it so I gave her one white glove and some black and white striped earrings. Her heels are cutesy with the t-strap and little black bows, but they're covered in gold spikes for a more dangerous vibe. I am in love with how everything turned out and I can't imagine changing any of it. 

When I get the more professional pictures I'll post those, especially the action shots!

Fashion Show Shenanigans in Photos

Close up of Gabby's makeup.

One of my lovely models getting her
hair done in a faux Mohawk style.

 

Some of my guy models waiting
for their pictures to be taken.

A detail shot of Eric's black and white plaid trousers,
 striped socks, and punk shoes. 

Ready for the show!
Makeup inspiration was from the band
My Chemical Romance when they did
their "The Black Parade" album.

Model & Designer 

All lined up and ready for the show to start!
For the runway they would be entering from altering sides (left/right).
So the first 4 models in line enter from the left and
the second group of 4 enter from the right.

Senior Collection & More!

My Shot for the Program.

Hello Everyone!

The fashion show is 33 days from now and I'm not freaking out at all, which is slightly surprising. I have a model practice tonight and I'll be able to see my line up and see how everyone's patterns look together. I'll also get to see the fit again and if I need to make tiny alterations. I'm pretty excited to see the clothes and shoes and what I've done so far come together. As of now I still have to cut & sew 1 pair of pants and 1 corset. Besides that everything is already cut and in the process of being completed. My goal is still to have everything done before spring break, which is in 12 days. 

Besides my senior collection I'm proud to announce that I've landed an amazing job for part of the summer. I will start late April and work until mid June at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis at a 1st Hand. I'm really excited and can't wait to start! I'll be working on 4 productions and I'll get to do little apprenticeship type classes- millinery is 1 of them! But I think it's a wonderful opportunity and I did everything to make sure I could accept it, which included getting permission from all of my professors to spend the last 3 weeks (including exam week) off campus. I'm very lucky to have their approval and I can't wait to share my progress and projects! So stay tuned for some really awesome things!

Menswear Progress

Close up of hand sewing one cuff.

Last semester I made 4 menswear looks and this semester I'm only working on one menswear look. The look for this semester consists of a pair of black wool trousers with suede down the side seams and a color blocked t-shirt. The bottom half of the shirt is a black and white plaid, which was used for a pair of men's pants last semester, and the top half is a black cotton. For the collar and cuffs I chose a grey knit to kind of break up all the black and also add another texture into the look. Instead of focusing on elaborate and over the top designs and focus on simpler silhouettes but mixing textures and patterns. I'm pretty happy with the results so far and I can't wait to see it all come together! I have a model practice next week with all 8 of my models and I can't wait to see them all in their looks (what I've gotten done so far) and see how the outfits look all together instead of just individual pieces.

Decisions Made: Men's Shoes

Dairius modeling the shoes.

While putting my senior collection together, I've decided to take a more punk rock turn and move away from the polished and sophisticated route my collection was headed. I picked out hair and makeup to help ease my collection further into a punk rock vibe along with my music choice, Lydia by Highly Suspect.
One of the big things that was keeping my collection more polished was the men's shoes. Originally I was going to have them all wear their own black dress shoes, however, when I looked at fit pictures after the break it just didn't seem right. After a while, I considered getting converse for all the guys (5 male models) but I was pretty hesitant in making a final decision. When I discovered these black canvas shoes online at H&M on sale I just went for it. 
I'm pretty happy with the results and they all fit the models- which is pretty great since 2 guys had to go down a half size so that I could order the shoes. I can't wait for all their looks to come together. I'm still pretty positive that I don't want to be an apparel designer and that I'd much rather go into costume design or writing, but I'm having fun with my collection and that's what matters.