The costume department in the Division of Theater hasn’t had a major costume sale in 10 years. Now, they’re cleaning out their main storage space and selling a dozen racks worth of costumes for Halloween.
A messy closet can plague many, with clothes jumbled together, making it impossible to find that cute teal sweater that’s necessary for today’s outfit. Now, imagine that closet is an entire floor of a building, filled with student-made clothing from years of work in the costume shop.
That’s what the storage space in the fourth floor of Kantner Hall looked like before this semester.
Racks upon racks were tightly filled with dresses, historical pieces, fantasy costumes, jackets, skirts and more. Bins were stacked on one another and filled up any space they could.
Thus, the costume department in the Ohio University Division of Theater decided to have a Halloween costume sale to diminish its stock and make room for new costumes. The sale will be in front of Kantner Hall, on College Street, Thursday and Friday. The rain location is the Kantner lobby.
“Before, it was so congested that you could never find anything,” said Katie Behrens, a third-year graduate student studying costume technology and design. “A lot of times, my peers and I just got so frustrated that it was easier to just go to the store and spend money. We could have had it, but I didn’t know where it was.”
Behrens said the department has cleared out its entire fantasy section for the sale. The very character-specific pieces from previous productions will be available because their specificity makes them unusable again.
Because many of them are so show-specific, Cassandra Paine, the costume shop manager and professor of costume technology, said the costumes at the sale won’t be like anything one could purchase in a store like Halloween City, where many people could pick out the same Frozen costume.
“Nowadays, as a woman, your selections are a slutty this or a slutty that. If you come to this costume sale, you’ll have a chance to get something other than that,” Paine said. “You get to use your imagination. … There aren’t pre set-together costumes. … You can come up with a whole character.”
At the sale, patrons can find overcoats, period pieces and dresses similar to something Sweeney Todd’s Mrs. Lovett may enjoy. Behrens said one dress opens up to create a disemboweled effect as yards of red fabric flows out, something that could make a great gory Halloween costume.
Prices for the pieces at the sale will range from $1 to about $50 or $75, with the more expensive price tags reserved for things like the massive puppets that will be available. The sale is cash only.
The costumes were cleaned before they were restocked after being worn by an actor, but Paine said, like Goodwill, the costumes might have a musty smell after being in storage for so long. At least a dozen racks worth of costumes have been pulled for the sale, with dozens still left in storage.
Paine said they have downsized enough where the program will have enough space for new costumes for the next few years. This was especially important as the department lost its storage space in the Radio-Television Building when it was given to another organization.
She added a sale should now happen every three to four years so they don’t exceed capacity.
Joanna Koefoed, craft shop manager and professor of costume crafts, said the need to reduce the stock was as much about preservation as it was about organization and safety. Having everything hanging up is crucial, she said, because pieces don’t last as long when they’re folded in boxes.
She added, if students can see it and actually get to it, it will be used more not only directly in the shows but also as an inspiration for students’ designs.
“That closet up there is vast opportunities for designers,” Behrens said. “Stock is a resource like the shop is a resource.”
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