labricoleuse | Production Overview: Pride & Prejudice

I finally have all the photocall shots and was able to put together an overview post of the crafts projects in Pride & Prejudice. I'm really pleased with the photos from this show, they really turned out well in terms of highlighting made-to-measure costumes for portfolios, not only for me but for the drapers/tailors as well.

Dyeing

This show had a lot of "invisible dyeing," work that no one in the audience--ideally--would ever think to notice: namely, shades-of-white control. The Regency period is historically dominated, fashionwise, by what a friend of mine refers to as "little white dresses," with color expression primarily in the world of a lady's accessories--hats, shawls, fans, fichus/dickies, etc. Many of our costume designs (by designer Camille Assaf-Doshi) featured tone-on-tone embroidery and trim, and it was my responsibility to match-dye provided notions, linings, etc. Here's an illustrative photo from the production:

Marianne Miller as Jane Bennett (costume draped by Lisa Raymond)
Kristin Villanueva as Elizabeth Bennett (costume draped by Jacki Blakeney Armit)

Both Jacki and Lisa spent a lot of evenings doing handwork on these garments--Lisa attaching the fragile antique lace by hand, and Jacki crewel-embroidering the motifs on the Elizabeth gown bodice and hem. They look lovely, don't they?

Now, to consider what my contributions were to the look, imagine if every element of the dresses with a "Hand-dyed trim" arrow pointing to it were a shockingly bright shade of white against the creamy colors of the fabrics. It seems like a small detail, but it does have a marked effect on the result.

Parasols

Julie Nelson as Mrs. Gardiner

Allison Altman as Lydia Bennett

These, i've written up the process in a previous post, so here the stage pictures speak for themselves.

Millinery Construction and Restoration

Derek Ledbetter as Colonel Fitzwilliam
Kristin Villanueva as Elizabeth Bennett
Restored top hat from previous post

Julie Nelson as Mrs. Gardiner
Grey straw lady's topper from previous post

Ray Dooley as Mr. Collins, Kristin Villanueva as Elizabeth Bennett,
Julie Nelson as Lady Catherine, Alice Whitley as Charlotte Lucas Collins
The enormous taffeta mobcap doesn't seem so enormous perched on such a large wig!

Alice Whitley as Charlotte Lucas Collins
Kristin Villanueva as Elizabeth Bennett
Drawn bonnet featured in a previous post

Mereda Mason as Mary Bennett, Kristin Villanueva as Elizabeth Bennett, Marianne Miller as Jane Bennett,
Allison Altman as Lydia Bennett, Julie Fishell as Mrs. Bennett, Flor de Liz Perez as Kitty Bennett
Millinery student Lisa Raymond's bonnet project debuts as a prop!

Kristin Villanueva as Elizabeth Bennett
This hand-spiraled straw bonnet is quite sweet-looking onstage...

Kristin Villanueva as Elizabeth Bennett, Jimmy Kieffer as George Wickham
This shot shows the side view of the bonnet,
as well as one of tailor

spikywheel's uniform coats!

Flor de Liz Perez as Kitty Bennett, Allison Altman as Lydia Bennett
Pieces de resistance, the frivolous bonnets of the younger Misses Bennett.

Hope you've enjoyed this overview, and the opportunity to see all the projects in context, aesthetically. If you're in the area and want to see the show, get tickets soon; they're a hot commodity, the original text being so popular. Reviews are mixed, which i think usually is a good indicator of a good production to go see, in that it's clearly made the critics think and come to different conclusions. (I'm always wary when a show seems to please all of the critics!) The college paper gave it a good review, whereas the News & Observer was critical of the production. But, the Classical Voice of North Carolina's review was glowing.