Costume Corner: The Wiz

Re-posted from costumer Elise Jackson's blog at www.elisejackson.com 

My youth theater company - Yorba Linda Spotlight - recently closed an amazing production of "The Wiz" and I must say that it was my favorite show to costume to date.   Now, being the costumer/financial director for a non-profit theater company means that I really have to get creative in costuming these 60+ kids in fabulous costumes on a very limited budget.  In order to accomplish this, I did a lot of shopping at thrift stores as well as online at wholesale clothing websites.  For "The Wiz" I wanted to go for an eclectic, urban feel far different from the traditional "Wizard of Oz".  Here are a few examples of what I did for the show!

Photo by Steve Drury Photography

Addaperle:
For this, I got a long purple trench coat from the thrift store and cut off the under layer.  For the fluff in the back, I attached an orange tutu that we already had in our costume warehouse and sewed it in a cascading layered formation.  I found the 70's-style patterned dress underneath at a thrift store and the hat online on Amazon.com.

Photo by Steve Drury Photography

Lion:
The Lion was a little difficult to costume.  I was going for a grittier feel than the "Wizard of Oz" Lion and all of the costumes online were either too cute or some version of a zombie lion.  I finally found this body suit which came plain with a basic mane and wrist and ankle fur.  I added fur left over from a previous show in strips of claw-mark patterns to the stomach and arms, sewed more fur into the mane to make it fuller, and added ears.

Photo by Steve Drury Photography

Glinda:

For this outfit, I used my friend/business partner's prom dress which was originally long and one length.  I added the shiny light blue fabric to the bottom, and pulled the two sides of the dress up by gathering them and securing with a safety pin.  I then adjusted the under fabrics (the purple and toale) and attached bows I had made out of the remaining blue fabric to give it that cutesy/Cinderella look I was going for.

Photo by Steve Drury Photography

The Wiz:

I had a specific look in mind for this costume decided it was worth the extra money to make the character pop.  I bought a white Dior tailcoat and a lime corset from Ebay vendors, white skinny pants from a discount clothing store, and the hat on Amazon.  To make the coat curve up, I first lined the underside of the tailcoat in a lime green sequined fabric.  I then bought thick copper wire from Home Depot and fed it through the space I left for it.  I then bent it up to get the curl effect.

Photo by Steve Drury Photography

Yellow Brick Road Dancers:
I had the idea in my head for these from the get go.  I found the yellow dress at an online wholesaler complete with black belt.  I then painted the brick pattern on the bottom half of the dresses with black fabric paint and the were good to go!  My friend Margaret made the headpieces using headbands and bits and pieces from Michaels.

Photo by Steve Drury Photography

Munchkins
I really lucked out on the munchkins.  I had a TON of adorable girls in the cast and really wanted them to take on the kookiness of their leader Addaperle.  I found bulk orders of these fun dresses already made up in 4 different color combinations.  They made for very cute costumes!

Photo by Steve Drury Photography

Scarecrow:
I went with a rust-colored theme for the scarecrow.  I found rust-colored corduroy pants and a plaid shirt at the thrift store and added burlap to the collar, wrists, ankles, pocket, and button alley.  I then cut the hood off a brown sweatshirt from the thrift store and attached burlap to the entire outside.  I then went through and pulled the burlap apart at the ends.  To finish it off, I added a rope belt.

Photo by Steve Drury Photography

Tin Man:
I always imagined the tin man to be the stylin' one in this show.  I found a grey thermal, pants and vest at the thrift store and a grey had in our costume warehouse and went to town on them with a can of silver metallic spray paint.  To top it off, I fashioned a bow tie out of some metallic silver fabric from another show.








So that's a look at some of my favorite costumes from "The Wiz"!  It's always fun costuming on a budget - you learn to REALLY get creative with what you've got.  If you want to see a glimpse of how it all came together, check out this promo video...

Costume Corner: 1920's Costuming on a Budget

By Elise Jackson

"Thoroughly Modern Millie" Costumer

It's always a challenge to costume 80+ kids on a tight budget, but throw in the fact that the show takes place in a time period like the 1920's and suddenly the task seems impossible.  That's where I found myself after auditions for Yorba Linda Spotlight's "Thoroughly Modern Millie" Teen and Junior shows.  After the excitement died down from auditions, casting, and first rehearsals, I sat down to create one of my infamous costume spreadsheets.  This is when panic began to set in.  How was I going to costume all of these amazing kids in daytime, nighttime, and work looks from the 1920's without going over budget?

Costumes from the CYT production of "Thoroughly Modern Millie"

Enter CYT San Diego.

I searched around for "Millie" costumes for rent in the area but came up with nothing - well, nothing that stood up to our high standards of production anyway.  But then I remembered the huge costume Mecca called CYT.  I'm talking a huge warehouse in San Diego covered wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling in costumes.  I called my contact there and she graciously informed me that they had adult sized "Millie" costumes for rent and they were available when we needed them - HOORAY!!!  Problem solved... almost.

Millie Jr. Boys Suits

I still had to find kid-sized flapper duds for the junior cast.  Where could I possibly find fancy, low-cost suits and drop waisted dresses to fit 6-13 year olds?  Renting them was a dead end - seems no one around us has done "Millie, Jr." or at least hasn't keep the costumes from it.  So I did a little digging on my goto websites for low-cost costumes - Walmart, Target, and Kohl's.   Now you might be thinking "how can you expect to find costumes there?"  But my favorite stores didn't let me down.  I found the cutest boys suits on Walmart.com for crazy cheap!  And since it was close to Easter, all of the suits fit in my target pastel color scheme.  Amazing! I quickly bought every size and color combination I could possibly want (hey, they're returnable right?) and had them shipped to my house.

Now all I had to worry about was the girls.  Drop waisted dresses aren't really in style but are essential for the 1920's look. I decided to see what I could find on wholesale dress sites. I found a few U.S. sites that had 1 maybe 2 possibilities.  If I went with this, I would have to order 40 of the same dresses and then jazz them up so they would be different from each other.  Not ideal.

Enter China Wholesale Dress.  

A few of the Millie Jr. girls dresses

When I found this website, I was ecstatic.  Not only did they have over 20 drop waisted dresses, but they were all in light pastel colors that matched the boys suits perfectly and well within my budget!  I couldn't believe my eyes.  I guess the 1920's are making a comeback in China.  Unlike my Walmart purchases though, these dresses were final sale so I had to be absolutely sure I would use them as well as sure about the sizes I would need.  Not to mention they were coming from China and I wasn't sure WHEN and IF they would arrive on my doorstep.  In the end, I ordered them and am so glad I did!  They arrived at my house a week later and were everything I hoped they'd be. Phew!

Well, that's all from me for now.   I am so excited for everyone to see how the costumes turned out and I know that this show is going to be one of Spotlight's best!