My First Entry

Having been given a spare moment - finally - from schoolwork, I've decided to use my evening to create this nice little blog about my latest costuming ventures. Currently my costume related classes are minimal, but next year looks promising. I recently finished up two class credits - working as the Assistant Costume Designer on 'Cinders' (a Cinderella story gone bad...yeah, lets just say this Cinderella kills herself at the end in a bloody suicide scene!) and building costumes for 'The Rivals', a late 1700s play, which opens tomorrow night (Yay!). Right now I'm taking a costume construction class in which we've learned skills like dyeing, wig dressing, and draping and flat patterning. It's an awesome class and I now feel liberated - I can pattern any dress I dream up!

Recently I was invited along on the costume design grad student trip to NY to visit a costume exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Museum. The exhibit displayed garments from the book 'Fashion'. The gowns were amazing! Unfortunately we weren't able to take pictures in the galleries, but I sketched a few of my favorite garments instead. We then visited the MET - I was in it four hours and felt like I saw only a few rooms!

Over spring break Vince took me on a surprise date to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a clothing exhibit that they had featuring garments from the 1700s-early 1800s. It was just a small room but I got oodles of pictures, some of which I'll eventually post online. ; )

We also attended the Harrisburg Preservation Ball at the State Capital bldg. over break. It was much fun - didn't have a new dress or anything, but got a lot of compliments on my white ballgown. ; ) There was one dress in particular that I loved, it was a beautiful black silk taffeta gown with a long train. It looked just like an original with lots of antique lace and a beaded headdress with feathers. It was way too dark for the ballroom and men were tripping over the train all evening, but it looked very elegant from afar.

Other costume related things...in September Anna Allen of www.thegracefullady.com and I are hoping to attend an 1860s Fancy Dress Ball hosted by AGSAS. We're so excited!!! Vince will be escorting us. I'm going as a Harem girl, Anna, I believe, will go as a 1700s woman in a Robe a la Francaise, and Vince will go as Baron von Munchausen, a fairytale dude from the 1860s - I believe the costume will be reminiscent of the 1600s.