Author Topic: Help Organizing costumes...  (Read 6700 times)

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ambrosialx

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Help Organizing costumes...
« on: Jan 26, 2015, 09:53 am »
I apologize if this is in the wrong area! I am the new CSM of a ballet company who has no wardrobe mistress. I will pause and let that sink in for a second. Are we all back? We tour 5 different shows per season plus have a youth program which mounts two full musicals per year. We have a lot of costume items that bounce back and forth between shows as well (white shirts, mens trousers etc). I am trying to get our costume situation organized more efficiently, right now it is more or less by show with accessories in boxes or tupperware all over the warehouse. Does anyone have ANY suggestions what so ever on getting this set up more logically? Right now I have to try to sift through all the shows to put up a new one to see where blank costume item was last used. Also I have just come on board and no costume inventory is left from previous shows before the inventory I've been plugging away at with costumes used this season. We also have no shop so I have 2 6' wide closets and some warehouse space with pipes hung over head for costume storage.
  ANY suggestions would be super helpful I'm sure as I am very much NOT a costume person!

Thanks
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loebtmc

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Re: Help Organizing costumes...
« Reply #1 on: Jan 26, 2015, 12:38 pm »
Deferring to the ballet folks. but is the company manager or sm are supposed to even deal with this? But I'd do a spread sheet with shows along one side and costumes across the other, and do a line by line listing of what is in which shows. Then, I'd store them by show, but have a separate, well-labeled rack with easy access (or in front) for the ones used multiple times. You shd be able to get an intern or wardrobe person to help w that, too......
« Last Edit: Jan 27, 2015, 06:56 pm by loebtmc »

BayAreaSM

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Re: Help Organizing costumes...
« Reply #2 on: Jan 27, 2015, 02:42 am »
I may be preaching to the choir - but these costumes came about somehow, yes? Does the company have a costume shop manager? At my ballet company, it is that person's job to inventory costumes (as well as a myriad of other tasks). If not and it falls on you, I can tell you what our shop manager does.

1. Create dressing lists for each ballet
2. Organize costumes by ballet on the rack
3. Small accessories (gloves, pins, removable decor, jewelry) in diddy bags next to each appropriate costume
4. Larger accessories organized by type, per ballet, in cardboard boxes  (hats, shoes, etc)
5. Create giant "pods" of safety-pinned muslin to completely cover the costumes in the warehouse (grouped by ballet)
6. Label the pods with the ballet title, label boxes with ballet title and type of accessory. (If necessary, number the pods "pod 1 of 4" and same with the boxes. Also note the number of boxes on the pod label.)

During either dress rehearsal or performances, photos are taken. The shop manager saves the photos in her electronic archive along with dressing lists and show paperwork. Based on those photos and dressing lists, she pulls from ballets if needed in the creation of a new work.

I will say, because I've been with the same company for 12 years, I have a pretty good memory of what we have in stock, even though I have nothing to do with costumes/wardrobe. If this is solely on you, get as familiar as you can with the costumes. If you can do all of the above, you will be familiar enough with it all to recall items you have in stock, and based on your paperwork, know exactly where to pull the items from. When creating the new ballet, be sure when building your dressing list that you say where pulled items came from - and be sure to return them to the original show. In ballet we do this all the time with props - and if we get around to selling a show, I make sure to remind the PM that if we sell Show X, props a, b and c also go with Show Z, so be careful about what goes in the sale inventory.

Of course this doesn't cover the whole measurements situation, but once you pull your stock, you can always measure before fitting on someone. Hoping you're not the one stuck doing fittings either?


ambrosialx

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Re: Help Organizing costumes...
« Reply #3 on: Jan 29, 2015, 03:59 pm »
So helpful! And yes I do fittings and everything. We don't even have a seamstress, I do fittings and try to communicate that to our local alterations shop and then drop of the costumes and pick them up when they are done as they won't come to the studio to do fittings. It's very stressful. Things I come up against include;all of the costumes moved from their locations on the costume racks in the warehouse to behind a bunch of dirty risers and set pieces so my ATD could store his 4-wheeler up on blocks in the warehouse for the winter...  :-\

  Thanks for all your input!
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TuckerelleSM

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Re: Help Organizing costumes...
« Reply #4 on: Jun 15, 2015, 10:00 am »
My Hat is off to you Ma'm! You are handling so much work! Costumes with Dancers and kids?! Merde Merde Merde
We have only one full time costume director and one part time costume assistant - and I don't know how they do it. I can't imagine trying to handle costumes and company/stage manage.
I think all of these responses sound great. Shows that share items are really common here too. We have shows that share scenery, props and costumes.
-Taking photos once the dancer is in the costume is a great way to create a visual inventory and reference.
- I helped my costume directory create a "map" of the costume storage area, so that when she does have helping hands, they can more easily find what needs to be pulled.
- Inventory by show - by character. I find it's important for my artistic directors to know (when doing casting) how many corps costumes we have for certain numbers. Especially if we are running 2nd or 3rd casts with indirect character crossovers. Additionally, dancers are all shapes and sizes. We've gone from a "short" company to a taller one over 8 years, and things that used to fit no problem have to be reconsidered during casting if we don't want to re-build. So I sometimes have to remind the directors, that yes, we technically have 18 costumes, but 2 of them were MADE for much shorter girls, so no matter how hard we try...that bodice is not going to sit correctly on a larger body, and we may need to cut the corps number or consider budget for a new build.
- what about coding the known crossover items by sex/top or bottom/color/ size? regardless of their "original show" category or storage group, you could have an extra code on the tag that indicates it has multiple use?
- Have you thought of looking for interns? They are great for building inventories. Do you have any local theatre departments with costume students that you could reach out to? A lot of time these students are in need of stipend hours or work experience hours and we have been able to work with their department chairs to create some course credit for them working with us.

Joelle


« Last Edit: Jun 15, 2015, 10:02 am by TuckerelleSM »

 

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