Northern College of Costume Exhibition

Think you are not interested? The latest group are putting their efforts on display this weekend and it is worth taking a look.

This is good old fashioned history based theatrical costume making.
Never wondered how many component parts go into making one Tudor "dress"?  Well, now is the time to start wondering and also have the opportunity to find out.  At the same time you could take a peek inside  a Teddy Boy's pockets, or ask the ladies about their 1940/50s evening wear.

I went along as a dresser for the Tudor photoshoot in our local Tudor Barley Hall. Those big skirts over farthingales and the stays can take quite a lot  effort to get on and then to manage. It was so atmospheric in there - I can't wait to see the photos.
The Teddy Boys stayed in the city centre down one of the seediest side lanes. No romantic Tudor beams for them. The final shoot of the day was at a Neo Classical chapel. A rather busy day.

Take a look at the complexities of the makes, see what can be achieved with some  ingenuity, hard work  and a lot of know-how and guidance. And then think - this was all achieved in 15 weeks!
I did the course a few years ago, and survived with battered, stitched fingerends and a lot more skills than I started with.
If you are in York, do drop in.
Photos : Mark Terry

Northern College of Costume - last week!

Apologies for the erratic posting - just been so busy.  The end of the course has now past - 14 weeks of intensive making, 1 week of intensive worrying about the photos and staging the exhibition.

Photo shoot day was Monday - 7.45 am at the college, packed and ready to go- all of 5 minutes away to the York Cemetery chapel- image a convoy of cars with me pedalling away after them....  ( got there and back first!) - a lovely Neo Classical building  - great pillars, odd tapering windows, and in the middle of a very leafy cemetery!


The volunteer men were first, trying to be thug like - Gangs of New York style. Mine has the look but manages not to be brutish- typical, want a grumpy man, find a nice one! Everything looks good in the photos but I will admit to the stirrups being a pain - there was a battle between pulling the trousers up to the waist and the stirrups pulling them back down whenever he sat. The stirrups lost and the fabric got soaked from the long grass, so Lawrence had two tone trousers with flappy ears at the bottom by the end of the morning. He didn't seem to hold it against me. Might not be right, but elastic would be answer- if used in sufficient quantity.

While they were being 'shot' we were preparing for the bustle gown moment - Why does it all take so long? ( really should have had the corset tighter so the bodice sat more smoothly - no mirrors to check it out in)

The photographer had some odd ideas of how we should pose -   we were supposed to be animated - Faye had just started  a most promising joke, but never did get to the punch line.

Pauline Chambers in the centre- spectator sport

   Then the decades dress - mine based on a Jaques Fath 1949 catwalk number ( ummm indeed)
  Had some very odd ideas about posing. 
I'd just been focussed on the dress shapes and making, handling the satin, getting it to sit on the body right, didn't really consider what it would actually look like!  Oops. And then had to wear it at the end of course exhibition -  thank goodness my shoes hurt - a decent distraction from the dress.










Faye's bustle gown - my favourite piece

The exhibition was Friday and Saturday, 3 outfits didn't look that much to start with - until itemised - shirt, waistcoat, trousers and coat,  bustle cage, petticoat, foundation skirt, aprons, bustle piece and bodice, then glam dress, plus all the toiles! No wonder the fingers hurt and the eyes crossed.

 Thanks to all the friends who came round and managed not to snigger at me trying to be elegant....  Had a few cards taken which is optimistic, but kept on being complimented on the artwork rather than the costumes, oh well.....


And now it is over. Done. Packed up in 20minutes and then collected the stuff first thing this morning.

Learnt a lot, discovered new areas to develop and explore, met people I would be delighted to be able to call friends now, and am pretty sure that working with historical costume is where I should be.

Problems  are a collection of costume pieces that each are bigger than my wardrobe. A house in dire need of extensive, if not aggressive, re ordering, tidying and cleaning ( not one clear carpet!). A hedge in desperate need of a remedial haircut and a front garden to get lost in. And I need to earn a living.

Any one after an 1880s bustle ensemble - one careful owner.......