Hoping to impress svelte Elke Sommer with his suave policeman cool, Peter Sellers (as Inspector Clouseau) pulls out a string of official-looking keys — connected for “security reasons” to a hook on his pants — to unlock her file. The key sticks in the lock and the pants tear like tissue. A moment later, Elke tugs at his coat sleeve and it comes away in her hand. Cool gone, frustrated Clouseau grumbles, “Stupid tailor.”
Actually, good costume design, something about which WSU’s Carole Urquhart knows a great deal. Urquhart (pronounced “erk-hart”) is the university’s first professional theater costume designer in 25 years.
She’s been at WSU for two years, as an instructor in Apparel, Merchandising and Textiles. In the summer, she contributes to regional Shakespearian festivals as a costume designer and pattern maker. Her current project is the upcoming WSU production of “A Flea in Her Ear” (opening Nov. 7), which Urquhart says is a “wild farce” set in 1910 France.
Interdisciplinary instruction
As an instructor in Apparel, Merchandising and Textiles, Urquhart says she crosses college lines with her theater costume class. Theater is liberal arts and apparel is agriculture/home economics, but both schools are pleased with the interdisciplinary connection. The skills needed in costuming are similar if not identical to those needed for apparel. “Only the purpose differs,” she asserts. “Pattern making, working with fabrics and fashion forecasting are all the same.”
Costume designers benefit from a talent in fine art. For one thing, the ability to sketch is an essential skill for this trade, and Urquhart plans to offer a class in it next summer for AMT, theater and fine arts students. “Costume illustration isn’t offered in arts disciplines at WSU,” she said. “It’s the missing link in these students’ learning.”
A woman of the cloth
Don’t think of “costume” like a kid’s Halloween muslin-and-tissue masquerade that is pinned, glued or taped together. Costumes generally require quality construction from traditional, durable fabrics because they get a lot of wear and they must look real.
That means sometimes Urquhart has to make a “curtain call” and go to the drapery section of the fabric store to get the brocades or other materials to emulate weaves from days gone by. Like Scarlet did, in “Gone With the Wind.”
“But you don’t have to make everything,” she commented. “It doesn’t make sense to sew denim into a pair of jeans when you can just buy them off the rack.”
And if a costume is ornate or extravagant enough to be too expensive, or if realistic materials aren’t available, cheaper fabrics can substitute to produce the effect, says Urquhart. Sometimes she has to make her own patterned fabric by running plain material through a silk-screen she designs.
She adds that theatrical suppliers and even private citizens who rummage around in their homes find things a theater troupe can use. This includes accessories and other props, although she says a good design group can make canes, hats, gloves and even eye-catching “jewelry” if necessary.
Art and craft
“Costuming is visual art,” said Urquhart. “The audience should be able to tell, or at least guess, the nature of the character by the costume; they should know what to expect.” The exception would be if the plot construction requires the audience to be intentionally misled at first. But the costume cannot mislead by mistake.
Designing a costume involves reading the play, researching the era, collaborating with the director and actor and considering the set design and props. Colors and fabric styles must be right in terms of the plot, the mood, the design of the backdrop and set pieces and how the actor interprets the role. She says the theatrical term is “creating the world of the play.”
Urquhart says costume construction must be precise, more like a custom “couture” piece rather than mass-produced clothing from the apparel. That means each actor has to be fitted for his or her costumes, including when the production is set in contemporary times and the character’s clothing is ordinary.
If a piece will be damaged in a scene, then the costume must be copied so that both sets – unruined and ruined – are available for retakes or multiple performances.
Film costuming can differ in design requirement from stage performance in a couple ways. Bright whites don’t work well for celluloid. Neither do fine stripes or patterns like herringbone because they tend to “strobe” (flutter or oscillate) when shown on film, distracting the eye.
Other than that however, the technique and process are pretty much the same.
The curtain rises
Since costumes must be complete by dress rehearsal, Urquhart doesn’t work backstage during a performance. That is not a role the costume designer normally plays, she says. “Dressers,” typically arrayed in black so that they are difficult to see between curtain panels by audience members sitting in the side seats, take charge of costume changes and emergency repairs and improvisations.
She finds the “quick change” performance exciting to watch and an interesting challenge for design. The performer has mere seconds to pull off one costume backstage, with the help of dressers, and put on another before reappearing to the audience. Therefore, on-and-off ease must be designed and constructed into the piece, yet still look realistic.
What to do for an encore
She says after her children graduate from high school, she’ll consider pulling up stakes and trying her hand somewhere else. She might consider Broadway, but tends to frown at the idea, generally. “Broadway is too competitive,” she remarked. “You have to live in New York and you have to be visible to directors. Hollywood is the same. To get in, you need to network; you need to know someone who knows someone. Connections are important as credentials.”
She’s more likely to consider Seattle, which she says has a good film and theater base, or Chicago, which is strong in television and live theater. Does she know what a Chicago winter is like? Her eyes widen and the look on her face says she can just imagine. “I understand it’s rough.”
As rough as theater.
