TUTUS OR CAMOUFLAGE: ALL THINGS CAN BE COSTUMES

You wouldn’t think that a girl like me who loves silks, satins, sequins and rhinestones as much as I do would be able to find a connection between the military and costumes! 

But last weekend I went to the Nellis Air Force Base Air Show in Las Vegas, and was once again reminded about the many things I admire about the military, and the kind of training it offers. There is a discipline and team spirit that is wonderful to behold, and can be a valuable asset in film-making!

I have had in my past career two costumers work for me who were ex-military. One was Michael Russell, a tall handsome guy from Texas, who got into the business unexpectedly. Following his service in Somalia and Iraq, he was hired on a film as the military consultant. It is not unusual to hire consultants to help assure accuracy when doing a military film, or a medical film, or any time of film where the average film-maker will not know the inside things that make for realism. 

Michael was a fabulous costumer. I loved that he was always punctual, efficient, kept his opinions to himself, and understood the chain of command. My crew and I used to marvel when Michael would set up a fitting room for an actor coming in. All the hangers were not only facing the same direction, but were perfectly spaced exactly 1“ apart from each other! He even used to open the safety pins and line them up in a perfect formation!

Another ex-military woman called April Kreuger came in to interview with me for a costumer position on “Passions”. She came in organized for her interview with a list of questions to ask me about what I expected of her, and a notebook to right down the answers. She got the job. 

But back to costumes. The first military project I ever designed was a stage play called “Streamers” with an all-male all-star cast. I was at the very early stages of my career and feeling very female and very insecure. It was a tough job because no matter how much research I did to get everything right, the all male cast, many of them having served at some point, were very vocal in telling me when I didn’t get something right!

You can’t wing it. Besides the basics of the uniform itself, you have to consider the era, location, rank, division, patches, insignia, medals, what they all mean, and exactly how and where they are placed on the uniform. Then there’s the gear, tactical belts, helmets, vests, holsters, backpacks, goggles, etc.

I did a short film a year or so ago about helicopter pilots in Vietnam. I found, via the internet, a man who had been a actual helicopter pilot from that era, and we had several phone conversations. He sent me a number of photos of him and his buddies from that time. It was a fascinating experience talking to him, and great research.

So I guess not all costumes have to have sequins on them! They just need to tell the story, and tell it right.

ADORABLE FUNNY FABULOUS BETTY WHITE!

What you see is what you get with Betty White. She is every bit as funny, adorable, and (dare I say it) nice as she appears to be. A year or so ago, the entertainment news kept talking about the “come back” of Betty White, but if you look at her IMDB, you will see that she has NEVER stopped working, and working a lot at that.

I had the excellent fortune of working with her on a TV sitcom called “Ladies Man”, which ran for two years on CBS. How can you not love Betty? She was and is the most professional, competent, and delightful actress you could ever have the good fortune to work with. On “Ladies Man” we had two “young people”, Alexa Vega, age 11 at the time, and Kaley Cuoco, age 15 at the time. cast as family members. (Sharon Lawrence and Alfred Molina played the parents of the family in this sitcom.) It was wonderful to see how the younger actresses instinctively learned from a true pro - how to be on time, know their lines, be appreciative to the crew, and thoughtful to all those around them.

I learned quickly what Betty’s “look” was. Her color favorites were all the sherbet colors - blue, turquoise, aqua, green, sometimes pink, and very occasionally yellow. She liked turtleneck tops and long sleeves, and pants, not skirts. Because of the quick changes on “tape night” I always changed any jewelry clasp to a small magnetic clasp that didn’t require putting on glasses to fasten it.

But what impressed me about Betty was that she was game for anything and never complained if she were in an uncomfortable scene or costume. One time she was dressed as Joan of Arc in full metal armor, a very heavy costume, and yet, not a peep out of her. Another time she was in an angels wings, the harness of which was cutting into her skin. She never used her age (then 78) as an excuse for special treatment.

A few years later I was thrilled to find out that she had been cast in a TV movie I was designing in Vancouver, Canada. She arrived the day before filming, but I already had the advantage of knowing her sizes, preferences, and taste. 

One Friday night I was at the Vancouver airport taking a flight back to LA (where I was starting to design “Passions” on the weekends) and she went whizzing by on an escorted VIP cart. When I saw her again she was so embarrassed that she had a ride to the gate and I had to walk, dragging my suitcase. She apologized over and over, despite my protests. I asked her why she was flying back to LA for such a quick trip when she had lots of big scenes again on Monday and she said, “Oh Diana, I can’t  leave my dogs that long, I miss them too much.” Her love of animals is legendary, and her stamina, talent, and humility are also legendary.

WHAT A COSTUME DESIGNER CAN DO FOR YOUR FILM

Sometimes people think I am putting on airs when I insist on being called my proper title of costume designer. I do not want to be called The Wardrobe Person, any more than the DP wants to be called the lighting guy, or the Production Designer wants to be called the set boy. I don’t “do wardrobe”.

I know where it comes from and it is not a conscious slight. Film makers start out in student or low budget films, where actors bring in their own wardrobe, and whatever else is needed is begged, borrowed, or purchased from the thrift store by whoever is available. 

So why then would the person who does this at this level think he or she deserves the title of “costume designer”? Because at whatever level, an artist deserves to be called the correct title of his or her job. The director is still called the director, the DP is still called the DP, not matter how humble the project. So should it go for all the departments. Producer. Editor. Composer. Casting director. Costume designer.

There are some common misconceptions about what costume designers do, especially when it comes to contemporary films or TV shows. It is easy to picture hiring a costume designer if you are making a period film based on the life and times of Henry VIIIth, or even a sci-fi film with some weirdly dressed creature from the future. But for a contemporary film with just people wearing “normal clothes”?

Yes, you will benefit from hiring a costume designer. Because what a costume designer does is take care of one huge aspect of the final visual project. He or she, after conferring with the producer, director, and production designer, will co-ordinate the gathering of all clothing to be worn, whether borrowed from actors, rented, purchased, or sewn from scratch. That person will co-ordinate the color palette, so that no two actors wear the same colors in a scene, or something that clashes with the set decoration. He or she will make sure the clothing fits, is clean and ready to shoot, is there on the day of the shoot, and is multiplied in case of stunts. The director should not be worrying about the wardrobe when he is setting up his shots. The actor should be concentrating on his or her lines and not wondering if the suit he brought fits right, looks right. Even on a low budget film, having a costume designer on board to take care of everything can still be an advantage. Obviously on a big budget film, it is a full blown necessity. 

Some other misconceptions:  

“I don’t need a designer, its just shopping”. In that case, you don’t need a production designer or set designer. They do the same thing - take something that already exists, and through the addition of paint, furniture, set dressing, etc, which is also  “just shopped”, creates the look for the scene. It all takes the training and the artistic eye to do “the shopping” and then to assemble it to create an entirely new set or costume.

When is it wardrobe and when is it a costume? Again, people sometimes think it is pompous to call a contemporary outfit such as a pair of jeans and a t-shirt a costume. But that it is, especially if time and care has been taken to purchase and fit the exact right jeans and t-shirt, and to age them so that they look like they are suitable for the action - brand new? aged and old? comfortably worn? recently laundered? covered with mud or blood from a recent fight?   It is wardrobe when the various pieces are just items of clothing. It is a costume the moment they go on an actor, are fit, approved, aged, and turned over to the care of the costumer for the run of the shooting schedule. That’s a costume, and I am so happy to be a costume designer!

DOLPHINS IN THE GULF, LARRY HAGMAN IN FT LAUDERDALE

Last week I had the pleasure of spending a week with my sister in a part of Florida that I was totally unfamiliar with, the Gulf Coast, the part of it they call “The Emerald Shore”. I was enchanted with the incredibly white beaches, blue water and skies, and was feeling so relaxed I wondered how I could think about costumes for my weekly blog!

But then I remembered my 4 week stay in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1992 while filming a TV movie called “Staying Afloat” with Larry Hagman. Other than the fact that it was August, when no one in their right mind goes to Florida (heat, humidity), I remember it fondly as a wonderful experience.

It was actually my very first film, and naturally I was nervous. As often happens, the first day of filming was not a simple one, but one of our biggest days with hundreds of extras. The location was the local racetrack, and we had spectators, horses, jockeys, trainers etc to deal with besides our stars Hagman, Claire Yarlett, Gregg Henry, and Dakin Matthews. But I had a good crew and all was going well until we were getting ready for our first shot with Larry. My assistant came running to me and said that Larry had just spilled coffee all over his trousers! YIkes! I didn’t have a double, so we had to clean off the pants as best we could and then dry them with a hair dryer, and get him back on set as quickly as possible. Actually, he was very embarassed and very apologetic.

Other days we shot on the beach in full sun, and it was all we could do not to strip off our clothes and run into the cool water! We went to Boca Raton for 2 days and shot there at the harbor, pool, and resort, and in a number of other locations around Fort Lauderdale. Since the series of movies NBC planned to film was based on around a renovated 1930’s yacht that once belonged to the Dupont family, Larry had wanted to film in different exotic locations, which was fine with me! (not that he asked).

I love going on location, especially if it is somewhere fairly civilized and for not too long a period. In Florida I was put up in a nice hotel on the 12th floor with a view of the beach and the inter-coastal waterway and could watch boats go by all day on my day off. My husband flew in from Los Angeles for a weekend in the middle of my stay, so we were not separated for too long. Location work is one of the things that has kept my life interesting, varied, and full of new places to discover. Though what I’m really waiting for is a film that shoots on the Amalfi Coast in Italy!

THE GLOBAL REACH OF SANTA BARBARA

Sometimes I wonder if my chosen profession really has any serious positive effect on the world. After all, I’m not feeding the poor, healing the sick, or working to change the world. I design costumes. I help tell stories. 

But every once in a while I am reminded of how much pleasure certain shows I have been part of bring to people in places outside of my limited world. “Santa Barbara” is one such show, a daytime soap opera that told the stories of beautiful people in the sunny California town. 

A few years ago I heard from a young Russian woman from Bellarus who wrote me about how valuable and popular the show was in her bleak communist country, when it first started opening up to the Western world. I can’t express it better than the author herself: 

More than just a popular TV show, “Santa Barbara” was a phenomenon in my homeland. Every night at seven o’clock the street were empty as the citizens of the former Soviet Republic huddled around their television sets to watch the first American program to air in the post-communist era. Not only the world of American culture portrayed through Santa Barbara was mesmerizing, it also provided a possibility for escape from the bitterness brought on by the collapse of the Soviet Union. In a place shrouded in snow for most of the year, where the average temperature seldom climbs above 40F, the warmth and sunlight of that Southern California town and the luxuries if its inhabitants hypnotized most of my fellow countrymen, and certainly myself.

After that email, the young woman, named Antonina Grib, who had come to the US on a tennis scholarship, contacted me again, eventually came to LA to intern with me on “Passions” and is now a very successful and in-demand costumer in Hollywood, living indeed “the American dream”.

Recently, I was “found” by another fan, this time one who lives in Torino, Italy, who to this day  loves Santa Barbara. He runs a fan site in Italy and his interview with me appears this month at the link right below this post.

He wrote me: 

Santa Barbara came to Italy in 1989  and it ran until the last episode in 1999. I followed the soap from the beginning until the end and never missed one episode.   And I often wonder: Why?

The reality is that “Santa Barbara” struck my imagination because I could share it with the person who most of all taught me something about life, my grandmother, Grace.

.

When I was about 12 years old, one morning I was awakened by a mild earthquake.

My mother rushed to me and to my grandmother to tell us to leave the house immediately for fear of collapse. We did not have much time, so I took a backpack and filled it with all the videotapes of Santa Barbara. Nothing else interested me, I just wanted to save “Santa Barbara” - (What a hero!). When my grandmother saw me full of videotapes, she began to laugh and then all of us began to laugh. The house did not collapse... perhaps for this reason. That was many years ago, but if there was to be another earthquake today, I would do the same.

So if my career creating lovely costumes for characters on stage or in films and TV has brought a little bit of joy, then that makes it all worthwhile.

Santa Barbara Blog: AN UNUSUAL AND EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH DIANA EDEN...

Santa Barbara Blog: AN UNUSUAL AND EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH DIANA EDEN...: Diana Eden has decided to release for you of " Santa Barbara Blog " an exclusive interview about her experience in " Santa Barbara ". Du...

MORE THAN A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY: REBA AND STACEY

This past week I had the pleasure of doing the wardrobe styling for a music video starring a young Canadian singer, the up and coming country vocalist and song-writer Stacey McKitrick. As I went to research her, I saw that one of her idols was Reba McEntire. Interesting co-incidence.

Years ago, when I was just starting to make a name for myself as a designer, I got a phone call from a personal manager who was looking for someone to design an outfit for another up and coming country singer, namely Reba McEntire. Reba and I met for a coffee to see if we were a good fit and though I had never much listened to country music, Reba was so down to earth and engaging I felt I could do a good job. 

In looking for inspiration, I turned to a current passion of mine, patchworking, and decided to design for her a high end “log cabin” patchwork skirt, made out of cotton prints in rusts and browns, which I  then had lightly beaded to add that show business sparkle. The blouse was a peasant style, again in a lacy fabric that was also embellished with some beads. 

The tricky part for me was that I chose to have the outfit constructed at Bob Mackie’s company, Elizabeth Courtney Costumes. It was tricky because, on one hand I knew that the workmanship would be brilliant, but awkward, as Bob had been my first employer and mentor,  and now I was expecting to be treated as an equal while bringing my client to his costume workroom.

Everything went well, Reba loved the outfit, and on the evening of the CMA Awards I watched anxiously from home to see my outfit. Horrors! When I first spotted her she was not wearing it! But then later she changed, and when the 5 nominees for Entertainer of the Year were announced, and Reba WON for the first time in her career, I got to see my outfit go up on that stage to accept that award!!

Many years later I was filming a TV series at Sony Studios and saw that she was also filming her sitcom “Reba” a few sound stages away. I was nervous about dropping by to see her, because now she was a huge star, but she was extraordinarily gracious and kind, and sang praises for that costume, telling me it was now on  display in the CMA Museum in Nashville.

So then last week, I got to meet and outfit the lovely Stacey McKitrick, for her first music video. From a small town just outside Vancouver BC, Stacey is tall and stunning, and I and everyone on the crew had a ball working with her. Her music is great and I hope when she is up for her first CMA award, she will call on me!  

For information on online costume training, please visit me at http://hollywoodmentors.com