BLKS Costume Process
Costuming by: Carly Bozeman
Below I provided a breakdown of my costuming process Angels in America, one of the 13 short plays in Connection Collection. This process is out of the ordinary due to COVID-19, but I felt was incredibly helpful in staying organized with my work.
​
Click Photo to Expand Image ! :)
1. Finding Visuals
The first step of my online costume design process for BLKS was to gather visuals I felt were representative of the discussions I had with the student director, Joelle Joyner-Wong. We discussed that she very much associated the color pink with "That Bitch" and the color red with "Imani," and that they would be set in an intimate bar scene. In regards to characterization, Imani was very edgy and blunt so I gave her a bit of a grungier look, while That Bitch was very ditzy and stereotypically preppy, so I gave her a girlier, sorority look.
2. Converting to Darks
In the second step of the costume design process, I wasn't rerouted too much in regards to Imani's costume, but I had to reimagine That Bitch wearing darker colors, but still portraying her preppy look. To keep the red and pink incorporated in the scene, Imani was instructed to wear red lipstick, while That Bitch was instructed to wear pink eyeshadow.
3. Creating Lists & Notes
I then took the inspiration I drew from the visuals and listed out the items that needed to be pulled from the SSU Costume shop for costuming--(considering the pandemic, Costume Shop Director Martha Clarke played a substantial role in helping the costume process run smoothly. She went on campus during COVID-19 to pull the necessary pieces needed). Considering most costuming was basic black, many actors had the pieces we needed in their closets!
After this point in the costuming process, I focused the rest of my time gathering costume pieces from actor's closets & meeting with Martha, on occasion, to pick up the costume pieces she pulled from SSU. From there, local actors came to my house to pick up their pulled costume pieces, and the actors far away had their pulled pieces mailed to them by Martha.