As some of you already now, I am also a Costume Designer and Tailor. I was the Clothier/Costume Designer at a College Drama Dept. for 14 years and have been freelancing for the past 3 years. For the past six years I have also been designing & making some costumes for a Elizabethan Madrigal Feast held locally. Below are just a few examples of my work over the past few years, some of which I am very proud and others I wished I could have worked on some more.
I personally prefer to design and make Tudor style and Elizabethan period pieces, as they (to me) have so much elegance, for both male and female. The cut for either is both significantly different as it is almost the same. That is what I find fascinating, how it was constructed and how they made it work. Many times when I see something that really grabs my attention, I usually have to try and figure it out for my self.
To the left is a Doublet/Jerkin that I designed for As You Like It. It has black velvet sleeves that are attached at the shoulder seam by leather ties. The Jerkin it self is made from Burgundy brocade. The whole outfit is lined with matching color muslin. There are 24 buttons, all covered with black velvet. They are pure decoration, as only the bottom half of the outfit gets cord looped with black leather strings.
To the right is one of my creations also for As You Like It. It was made of rather stiff upholstery fabric, as I could not find exactly what I was looking for anywhere locally, and I needed to get the job done. The whole outfit is a single piece. Opening in the front, hook & eye closure. The skirt is cartridge pleated all the way to the front, to give more fullness. The sleeves are two piece, with the top seam left open, and finished of with a cream colored silk on the inside. The sleeve is held together at the middle of the arm and at the bottom with teardrop shape pearls, which attach both sides. It has a high standing collar, with flared ends, also finished with cream colored silk, and 5 teardrop shaped pearls.
This is one of my proudest achievements. It was based upon a Doublet and Trunk hose from 1598. I spend days trying to carefully design the pants, and in doing so, I created the most accurate version of them I have seen thus far in real life. They are made of sage green velveteen strips on top of a dark green sturdy cotton blend. What makes these so unique is the fact that they are square under the crotch. Most patterns for these types of pants, are either gathered or tucked under, but this one is pleated and then cut with a straight edge under the crotch, thus making it not only comfortable to wear, but also much more appealing in overall form.
The matching Doublet is also made from a sage green velveteen and has a single wing all around the bottom, cut on the fold. The sleeves are of cotton/silk blend and have a beautiful ring design with ivory silk in the middle. The Doublet is fully lined and has Horse-hair canvas on the inside for support at the front, chest and back shoulder area. It is fastened with 11 pearl colored round buttons.
The red velvet Doublet is another favorite of mine. Unfortunately, I do not have any more pictures of it. Designed for a very talented you man, and was tailored specifically for him. It needed to be elegant, yet flexible as he needed to do physical action while wearing it. What you see here is unfinished. This Doublet is trimmed with red and gold cording on all seams. It was finished with Gold and Cream colored buttons.
This outfit was made for Romeo & Juliet. It was one of Juliet's gowns. Seen unfinished here, it sported pearl trim around the collar, sleeves and bottom hem of dress, and was decorated with Tear shape Pearls on all the centers of the flowers. The sleeves are similar to angel wing design, and were lined with white silk.
The last show I fully designed and costumed was Picaso at the Lapin Agile. It was set in 1904 Paris, France and I wanted to create the feeling of warmth and yet comfortableness and at the same time, everyday life of that time. The color palette I came up with, included such colors like, browns, deep reds, rust, regal green, orange and pastel blue. Also, some research was done to the accuracy of some of the characters clothing, as they were based upon real life people, including Picasso and Einstein.
98% of the costumes for this show were made from scratch and made by myself.
The Countess Dress seen to the left is of my own design, based upon the style of the fashion in Paris at the time, it is made of a heavy fabric with a dual diamond design on either side, one side Sage Green, the other Silky Black, making it completely reversable. The skirt it self is a 5 gored design, triple pleated on all the seams and was decorated with antique black velvet like leaves . The hem is a band of the same fabric reversed. The jacket is of the same fabric and has the same triple pleated design on the sleeves.