Trash to Treasure: How Conscious Costume is Sidestepping Theatrical Gatekeeping and Making High Quality Costumes Accessible To All

With graduation season in full swing, I’ve been thinking back to my early days as a costume designer. 

In college, I had access to abundant resources including fully built costumes, shoes, hair products, fabric yardage, accessories, etc… I could design an entire show without spending a dime! As an emerging professional designer in Chicago, I had nothing except a sewing machine. Meanwhile many of the theatre companies I worked with, also had nothing. My education emphasized how to work with a costume shop, how to decide what to pull, rent, buy, or build; I had no real understanding of the theatre world I’d be graduating into.

Since I had not gone to school in Chicago, nor did I work an internship at one of the big local theatres, I did not have relationships with the places who might have let me borrow or rent from them. While I understand that our sharing networks are based on relationships and you don’t want to loan precious materials to someone you don’t know, this remains a form of gatekeeping. People who do not have personal access to the costume collections at local universities or theatre companies are at a disadvantage to those who do. In fact, I was often asked about my available connections during job interviews because it was seen as a sign of my credibility and a resource I could leverage for the production.

One of the many reasons I founded Conscious Costume was to solve this problem and improve access to high quality costumes at affordable rates for emerging costume designers. It is the physical realization of the phrase “one person’s trash is another one’s treasure.” I want CC to be a resource for recent graduates and emerging designers who are building their professional networks. 

These extraordinary times call for extraordinary community action. Please consider sharing your abundance with those who have less.

I am grateful to our patrons who are investing in Chicago costume resources for all. If you are one of the free patrons, that’s great too! It’s free to help us get the word out about CC’s rentals, swaps, and second-hand sales. Thanks for being a part of my extraordinary community.