The Wardrobe Department

From beautiful gowns on a princess to outrageous armor on a forest creature to a pair of boots for a streetwalker, these are the creations of the wardrobe department. Their work is sometimes obvious, sometimes subtle. Arguably, when a wardrobe department is recognized for its work via an academy award, it is usually on a period film, which brings along with it particular challenges. However, all wardrobe is created with a sense of a particular character in mind. How a person dresses reflects that person’s character. The same concept applies for a character in a project. Even in contemporary projects where the wardrobe may not need to be designed, great care is taken to ensure that each actor’s look is specific, purposeful, and in line with the director’s vision for the project as a whole.

In low budget you may only have one person handling the entire wardrobe for all the actors. In higher budgets you probably would have all the positions described below. Figure 13.1 shows the wardrobe hierarchy.

COSTUME DESIGNER

The costume designer is the head of the wardrobe department. She is responsible for the overall look of the wardrobe for all actors in conjunction with the director’s vision. She supervises the running of the wardrobe department and makes sure throughout the project that the director’s vision is being served by the wardrobe. Sometimes the wardrobe needed for a project will already exist and may only need to be purchased or rented. If the wardrobe does not exist, then the costume designer will design the pieces, which will then be sewn by her staff specifically for the project. As the head of the department, the costume designer is also responsible for the wardrobe crew and the wardrobe portion of a project’s budget. The costume designer can start on a show for anywhere from one month to more than three months of pre-production, depending on how involved the wardrobe needs to be.

FIGURE 13.1
Wardrobe Hierarchy.

Pre-Production

  ■ Meets with the director and discusses the general vision of the wardrobe and the looks of particular characters.

  ■ Depending on the type of show, may conduct research. Research could be required if the show is a period piece. The costume designer may need to research medieval wardrobe and accessories or the particular wardrobe look of another ethnicity.

  ■ Completes a wardrobe breakdown by scene, showing what wardrobe occurs for each actor on each story day.

  ■ Hires the wardrobe supervisor.

  ■ May begin designing wardrobe as needed.

  ■ May meet with the production designer to discuss the wardrobe look.

  ■ Gets measurements of all the actors.

  ■ Supervises all wardrobe fittings.

  ■ Meets regularly with crew to monitor progress.

Production

  ■ Always on call, may not necessarily be on set. The designer may still be monitoring fittings and continuing to design pieces of wardrobe.

  ■ If on set, continues to monitor all wardrobe operations.

Wrap

  ■ Makes sure all rented wardrobe is returned and all purchased wardrobe is sold or returned to the production company.

WARDROBE SUPERVISOR

The wardrobe supervisor answers directly to the costume designer. This person is on set all day, making sure each actor is dressed properly. In lower-budget projects this person may also dress the actors. In higher budgets this is usually taken care of by the costumers. The wardrobe supervisor begins work shortly after the costume designer is on the show.

Pre-Production

  ■ Does a wardrobe breakdown per scene and confers with the costume designer (see Figure 13.2).

  ■ Goes over wardrobe requirements for each actor with the costume designer.

  ■ Discusses any time-intensive wardrobe pieces with the costume designer.

  ■ Discusses any major time-intensive wardrobe changes with the 1st AD. This is done so that if an actor is shooting and requires a long period of time to get into the wardrobe, then the 1st AD can allow for this.

  ■ Discusses any wardrobe that needs to be doubled or tripled. Wardrobe may need to be doubled, for instance, in a scene in which an actor is hit in the face with a pie. There could be many takes to get the shot right, so the wardrobe department must make sure there are extra pieces of the same wardrobe for the actor to have for each take.

  ■ Makes sure all actors’ measurements are accurate for design.

  ■ Acquires all rented costumes. These costumes could come from wardrobe rental houses, or specific items such as a fur coat may be rented, for example, from a furrier.

  ■ Oversees the sewing of originally designed costumes.

  ■ Creates wardrobe list by scene.

  ■ Distresses any wardrobe as necessary. Distressing wardrobe is the process of making it appear to be well worn. This could involve repeated washings to fade the color or applying certain chemicals that make the wardrobe look older.

Production

  ■ Responsible for the continuity of the wardrobe while actors are shooting. This responsibility involves watching each actor as they perform and remembering their actions. For instance, if an actor comes into a room, takes off his coat, and pulls his tie so it hangs loosely, the wardrobe person has to remember at what point the coat comes off and at what point the tie is loosened. This is important because the action may be covered by another camera angle and the wardrobe has to match each time so the scene can cut together.

  ■ Supervises or dresses each actor in proper order for the first scene.

  ■ Supervises the dressing of each actor throughout the day.

  ■ Stands by on set to repair or adjust wardrobe as needed.

Wrap

  ■ Returns all rented wardrobe to vendors.

  ■ Makes sure all designed wardrobe is sold or returned to the production company as per its policy.

FIGURE 13.2
Wardrobe Breakdown

MEN’S COSTUMER/WOMEN’S COSTUMER

In the “olden” days, there used to be one costumer who would dress any and all actors. However, in our age of sexual harassment suits, we now have men’s and women’s costumers. Obviously, the men’s costumers dress the men and the women’s costumers dress the women. The costumers usually only work during production; however, if needed, they might be hired to work pre-production. This can occur if some of the wardrobe is very involved and some instruction on how to dress the actor is needed.

SEAMSTRESS

A seamstress is one of those positions that may exist in higher-budget productions but usually is not found in lower-budget films. In lower-budget films, any sewing would be done by the wardrobe supervisor or sometimes even the costume designer. If this position does exist, most of the special sewing is usually done in pre-production. In period films, there may be a whole team of seamstresses to sew massive amounts of extras wardrobe. Some seamstresses are hired for run of show if much of the wardrobe is being made from scratch. Other times, the seamstress may be hired on a daily or weekly basis to complete only certain pieces.

WARDROBE PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

The wardrobe PA is someone who is just starting out in the business and probably aspires to be a costume designer someday. This person becomes the wardrobe gopher, doing everything from sewing to picking up wardrobe pieces to getting coffee. Sometimes this person also serves as the assistant to the costume designer, if there is not already one. The wardrobe PA could start on a show immediately after the wardrobe supervisor begins. Sometimes for budgetary reasons this PA may be hired only shortly before principal photography.

ASSISTANT TO THE COSTUME DESIGNER

The assistant to the costume designer is like a personal assistant. He is usually found only on larger-budget shoots. Specific duties vary depending on the style of the costume designer. Some assistants may field phone calls, copy sketches, get coffee, and coordinate schedules with other departments. The assistant begins work as soon as the costume designer starts.

OPERATIONS

During pre-production the wardrobe team organizes the wardrobe and labels each piece according to the production schedule. Each piece will have a tag that states when the particular piece is needed and which actor it is for. The night before each shoot the wardrobe is double-checked to ensure that everything needed for the next day is ready.

On the morning of the shoot, the wardrobe team pulls each piece of wardrobe according to the call sheet. The call sheet shows actors’ on-set arrival times, as well as what time each actor will report to wardrobe. As actors are brought to the wardrobe trailer, male and female costumers hand them their wardrobe and direct them to their assigned dressing rooms. After an actor dresses, the costumer checks the actor to make sure the wardrobe is properly fitted and all accessories are present. The costumer or wardrobe supervisor then informs the set PA or 2nd AD—whoever is standing by—that the actor is ready and may then proceed to the set.

The wardrobe supervisor may stay in the trailer until the first actor goes to set. After the first actor is on set, the wardrobe supervisor makes sure that a representative from wardrobe is always on set to handle the wardrobe or make any necessary adjustments.

When an actor is wrapped at camera, meaning done for the day, the actor is escorted back to the wardrobe trailer to remove the wardrobe. The wardrobe is then removed with the help of the costumer and set aside for washing if it will be needed again.

At the end of the day or sometimes, if necessary, throughout the day, the wardrobe PA may need to wash the day’s wardrobe in preparation for the next day.

OTHER ISSUES

During a shoot, each actor’s wardrobe is washed at the end of each day. In low budget this is usually accomplished by sending someone from the wardrobe department to a local laundromat. In medium- to higher-budget films the production may rent a washer and dryer and have them installed somewhere in the production office.

Once a piece of wardrobe is wrapped, meaning it is not needed anymore for shooting, there are a number of things that may happen to it. In some cases, for instance, there may be suits that have been tailored to fit one actor specifically. The actor may then have the option of purchasing the items for himself or herself. Some producers may give these actors the wardrobe as a gift. If wardrobe was rented from a wardrobe rental house, it is returned. It is important that the wardrobe is returned in the same condition in which it was received; otherwise the production may incur costs to repair or replace the piece.

In some cases, at the end of a shoot the production has a garage sale. Various departments will take items that are no longer needed or wanted by the production company and have a sale to the public. Many times wardrobe is a large part of these sales. The sale is held shortly after principal photography is finished and is open to the public.

It is important that no item be sold or returned until all dailies have been reviewed. If by chance a reshoot is needed, the appropriate wardrobe must be available.

Oftentimes in a certain film a large number of extras are needed. In some cases, extras provide their own wardrobe, usually if the project is a contemporary piece. If the project is a period piece, having a large number of extras presents a special challenge for the wardrobe team. For instance, if a large army from medieval times is needed for a scene, these large amounts of people must be dressed in a short amount of time. On these occasions extra wardrobe personnel are brought in to handle the added workload. The production may also hire extra wardrobe PAs to dole out massive pieces of armor. Extra costumers may be hired to help check that each extra is wearing the armor properly.

SUMMARY

The wardrobe department works to dress actors as appropriate to their characters and in line with the director’s vision. Wardrobe may be originally designed by the costume designer or rented from wardrobe houses. The wardrobe team on set must work quickly to get actors to set and use costumers to help the actors dress. Sometimes, when there are large numbers of extras, additional crew members are needed. This is especially true for period productions, where actors or extras may not know the proper way to wear period costumes.