The Costumes Obstacles

Luckily, my employer is constantly giving me feedback. I was hired having never worked in costumes before, so my boss understood that there would be things I didn’t know. Upon first being hired my employer informed me that there aren’t any stupid questions. If I don’t know the answer to something, it’s better to ask than to perform the task wrong. The first movie we worked on in particular had a lot of “background” characters. There were several times when everything was so hectic that my boss let me choose the clothing for some of these characters. While it sounds like a small task, I took it as a sign of trust from my employers. While there were some characters that had to be immediately changed after I dressed them, my employers still allowed me to try again and create something better. 

A temporary dressing room for background at the Masonic Temple in Detroit.

As far as challenges are concerned, it takes a little while to get the hang of everything in the costume department. From finances to aging clothes there are a ton of different things to do and even more different ways to do them. Almost everything was a challenge at first, but being able to ask questions made things easier. I think that my experience is also very specific in that my boss was very dedicated to mentoring her employees. Not everyone in the film industry is as concerned about educating the people that work for them.