How to Design Costumes for your School Musical, Part 2

Gathering ideas:

For me this was the fun part. Start by sitting down with the director and ask her (I'll keep using 'her', because everyone in our production team is a woman) about her vision.

From that meeting I wrote down words like, 'magical, crazy, fun, fantasy'.

Then ask any specific requirements she has for the costumes.

For example, our Wiz has to get dressed on stage from PJ's. So her dress (our Wiz is a girl, too!) needs to open in front and be simple to put on. And preferably, be able to fit over PJ's without looking strange.

Then I started prowling the internet, using image search engines to find pictures of ideas. After exhausting image searches, I used Google and found lots of new ideas, so be sure to do both types of research.

I kept a document open and copied images into it, trying to sort into characters as I went. Labels are helpful, like, 'This wig is good', but I don't think I really needed them in the long run.

A really surprising source of ideas was fashion books and magazines. My daughters are haute-couture obsessed, and we've got lots of that sort of publication around. FiFi Lapin (above) provided my sketches for a Marc Jacobs outfit for Evillene and a Vivienne Westwood-inspired Addapearl costume. Vogue Italia's March 'Wasted Luxury' photo story has given me an idea for a crown. After all, haute couture is not for the real world!

Now, I suppose it is copyright infringement if you copy a costume exactly, but no creation of mine is going to turn out exactly like something from, for example, 'Wicked'. And I don't think Vogue Italia is going to chase down a high school group for intellectual property rights.

image Vogue Italia, marzo 2011

Be sure to look to others for help. Ring the theatre companies and schools near you. Has anyone done this show lately? Are they willing to loan you their costumes? Our local amateur theatre company loaned us quite a few costumes, which is a relief.

For me sitting around the table with a few girls, some paper and a bunch of pencils was hugely productive. Maria over at Avenue M came up with ideas for Glinda's dress, Izzy Rose designed Dorothy's outfit, and Dellylu created the crows. Being able to bounce ideas around was invaluable, even though, like me, none of those girls has ever been involved in this sort of process before.

Talk to the kids in the production. Some of them have been doing theatre for years and years. They know what works and they might even have something at home. I found some of our kids had strong opinions and good ideas. Some ideas are not so good, but you always have the right to say 'no'.

For example, two actors asked if they could wear bike shorts to be cops. Bike shorts and a hat. And nothing else. I've been stunned at how Aussie boys are keen to get their shirts off. Guess what my response was?

Well, that is how I got started with the creative process. There will be more on that later, but the next installment will be about equipment and space. You might be shocked at how much space you'll need.