Costume Making
Taking 2D research and renderings to their 3D fabrications is more than just mechanical reproduction for me. The elevated results of my work are the outcome of an interdependent relationship between my design process and my making process. I pride myself in my sensitivity to, and application of, color theory, design principles, composition, scale, and proportion to produce an energized final product. Energy lives in each work - energy that Walter Benjamin calls "Aura". I've developed collaborative relationships with notable costume designers including Jane Greenwood, Ann Hould-Ward, Matthew Lefebvre, Jennifer Moeller, Paul Tazewell, and Fabio Toblini, who've all recognized my ability to breathe this life or energy into their designs.
Maria Helliwell
One overarching skill I employ in costume making is establishing the silhouette specific to an era. This ensemble also exemplified dressmaking detail: Dress - pintuck black English net and copper silk damask with black soutache embroidery; Coat - copper wool and black soutache embroidery trimmed in brown velvet. Assembled by extraordinary dressmaker/collaborator Mary Linda.
Guthrie Theater’s When We Are Married
Designer: Matthew LeFebvre
Performer: Helen Carey
Photo: DJ Gramann II
Mary Act 1
This project is a personal best. The photos demonstrate the accuracy of scale and proportion in relationship to Ms. Carey's figure in the mock-up phase. The incredible and demanding costume designer Ann Hould-Ward was so pleased with the accuracy of my test garments, she made no changes to my patterning and construction throughout the process. Attention to the 1911 silhouette and the subtle dressmaking details of the time root this project in realism, an element vital to this story.
Guthrie Theater’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Designer: Ann Hould-Ward
Performer: Helen Carey
Photo credit: DJ Gramann II
The Ascot Races
Women's tailoring demonstrates another aspect of my range as a costume maker. With the variable of bust size, bespoke women's tailoring requires skills and expertise from both dressmaking and traditional men's tailoring to achieve a well fitted look as seen in these 1910 high fashion suits for the Ascot Races.
Guthrie Theater’s My Fair Lady
Designer: Fabio Toblini
Performer: Helen Anker & Company
Photo credit: Joan Marcus
Polly Wyeth
My career as a costumer has been during an age of realism in theater; making clothes that hold up to the demands of performance while appearing like real clothing to the viewer. As my colleague T. Tyler Stumpf often says, "modern clothing is difficult because people know the language." I believe this is because Twentieth-Century clothing is more directly related to what we wear and people have experiential and physical reference.
Guthrie Theater’s Other Desert Cities
Designer: Rich Hamson
Performer: Sally Wingert
Photo credit: Marlin Levison
20th Century Clothes
Scale, proportion and technique play a significant role in making Twentieth-Century clothing successful. Aging, distressing, painting and dyeing also have a dramatic effect on costumes being viewed as realism (see examples later in portfolio). This is a compilation of examples of costumes that are real clothes.
From left: Noises Off with Laura Jordan and Sally Wingert; Hamlet with Christina Rouner; and A View From The Bridge with Robyn Rikoon. All productions were at the Guthrie Theater.
Roora Dress
Regardless of the era or story, costumes are a visual element that supports the storytelling and should only draw attention to themselves when appropriate. A project that demonstrates a more subtle use of my detail oriented costume making skills, this example demonstrates the use of pattern matching across seams and the intentionally featuring the green medallions for symbolic reasons. Additionally, cut and fit allow for this Roora dress to blend as cohesively as possible into this modern dress play.
Guthrie Theater’s Familiar
Designer: Karen Perry
Performer: Wandachristine
Photo credit: Dan Norman
Billy Dawn
As indicated in other examples, one overarching skill I employ in costume making is establishing the silhouette specific to an era. This example shows a 1950s Fredericks of Hollywood foundation garment rarely seen in 20th C. shows unless there is a dressing scene. Although much of the underwear I make is never seen, it is created to assist the performer and or to achieve a specific look. In all cases, the objective is to support the performer so they can focus on their job and not ever think about the clothes––this photo demonstrates comfort and ease in Ms. Bronkovic's demeanor.
Guthrie Theater’s Born Yesterday
Designer: Mathew J. LeFebvre
Performer: Alexis Bronkovic
Photo credit: T. Charles Erickson
18th Century Menswear
My range of skills also includes period menswear. The cut and construction methods used in the creation of these suits from late Eighteenth-Century marks the beginning of what we think of as modern conventional men's tailoring methodology. The materials and methods were refined and adapted as men's fashion changed over the following 200 years, yet much of cut and construction theory is still used in bespoke men's tailored garments today.
Guthrie Theater’s 1776
Designer: Mathew J. LeFebvre
Performers: Robert O. Berdahl, Jon Andrew Hegge and Richard White
Photo credit: DJ Gramann II
Dance at the Gym
Movement and wearability are at the forefront of my work. Whether is it conventional costuming or dancewear, cut and construction are key to supporting the performer in doing their job. I strive to make my costumes in such a way that the performer does not need to think about their costume--freeing them to focus on the spontaneity of the live performance.
Guthrie Theater’s West Side Story
Designer: Jen Caprio
Performers: Kristine Yancy, Gabrielle Dominique, Ana Isabelle and Celeste Lanuza.
Photo credit: T. Charles Erickson
Lady Capulet
My creativity and my passion for clothing came together in the construction of Lady Capulet's ball gown designed by Jennifer Moeller who got her inspiration from Alexander McQueen’s 2013 Elizabethan-esque fashion line. The project required me to research McQueen, question Moeller and draw on my own experience with origami to unlock the secret to making this rather structured ensemble have a sophisticated aesthetic that felt effortless and moved gracefully with the actor.
Guthrie Theater’s Romeo and Juliet
Designer: Jennifer Moeller
Performers: Sha Cage and Andrew Weems
Photo credit: Jenny Graham
Mens Ballet Tunics
In ballet the movement of the body is the art. Therefore, movement and wearability are of the utmost importance. Restriction of movement only restricts the artform. In this image, the dancers demonstrate the ease of movement allowed by their tunics.
San Francisco Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty
Designer: Jens-Jacob Worsaae
Performers: Multiple
Photo credit: Erik Tomasson
Ballet Tunic - Military
These tunics from the same production of Sleeping Beauty capture the detail of the era while retaining the movement and wearability necessary for ballet performance.
San Francisco Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty
Designer: Jens-Jacob Worsaae
Photo credit: DJ Gramann II
Portia
A project of which I am very proud. I established the silhouette and built the corsets and underpinnings for the entire female cast that allowed for elegant, graceful, natural movement in spite of the large artificial shapes of the era. With Portia's clothes, I was able to match the opulence of the era through cut and construction of her wardrobe.
Guthrie Theater’s The Merchant of Venice
Designer: Paul Tazewell
Performer: Michelle O’Neill
Photo credit: DJ Gramann II
Kitty
This project illuminates engineering involved in my work. Establishing the late 1840s silhouette involved engineering a functional and wearable petticoat which historically is the largest volume petticoat and skirt combination obtained in the Victorian era before the advent of the hoop-skirt. My solution combined historical cut and construction research from the 1840s and the 1950s with modern lighter weight materials. Each petticoat required 35 yards of fabric and weighed 7 lbs total. And I managed mass production sewing processes to make the 20 petticoats needed for the production.
Guthrie Theater’s A Christmas Carol
Designer: Matthew J. LeFebvre
Performers: Multiple
Photo credit: DJ Gramann II
Amanda Wingfield
This project was a wonderful collaboration with painter/dyer Doreen Johnson. As mentioned before, aging, distressing, painting and dyeing have a dramatic effect on realistic clothing as costume. In the photo on the dress form, one can see the shadows, fading and wear literally painted onto the garment that enhance the fine dressmaking detail of the
nineteen-teens.
Guthrie Theater’s The Glass Menagerie
Designer: Ann Hould-Ward
Performer: Harriet Harris
Photo credit: T. Charles Erickson
Period Millinery
This millinery project exemplifies many hat making methods and techniques as the story follows approximately forty years of Celie's life and the changes in fashion that occur during this period for time. It was also interesting to explore techniques based on the socio economic status of a character, their fashion sense and their skill level at making their own hats where appropriate.
Alliance Theatre’s The Color Purple
Designer: Paul Tazewell
Performers: Multiple
Photo credit: DJ Gramann II