Wildwood Spiderling

Endless dressup as a child as well as characters played on stage or story ballets watched, I loved that a character could be based on an outfit or an outfit based around character. Through the tumultuousness of growing up I, as many of us, experimented with costumes and styles of dress as part of the exploration of identity. Was I a pirate today? an elf? All black and flowing? Rainbow and flouncy?

Through my studies in archaeology I learned about the roles masks and regalia played in the sacred rituals of old, as well as the more mundane significance of many everyday adornments. Clothing has been more than a method of keeping warm and covered for most of our history, and the idea that we express ourselves through it is not new. In fact, it has long been an integral part of how we identify ourselves and each other. As I left academia for the arts I worried about the usefullness of what I was doing. My Mother reminded me that art, visual, musical, performance based, ect. comforts and inspires and helps us understand, and that while not immediately tangible, that is incredibly culturally important. I sort of listened. On the eve of embarking on my diploma in Costuming for Stage and Screen, I had an encounter that really drove it home. I was helping hold space at a safe space at a festival. Many people partake in various things or otherwise have very intense experiences, and it's important for there to be somewhere calm and someone to talk to. It was late one night and a girl came in dressed in a store bought but well made pirate costume. She sat quietly for a while before striking up conversation, and when she did she told me that she was no longer high, she had lost her friends, but she didn't want to go get changed out of her costume yet. Intrigued, I asked why. She responded that she had never felt that much like herself in her life. It was clear that she had identified some aspect of herself through her experience of wearing this costume. That moment solidified for me the importance of what we wear. Many of us can't go about life in full character costume, nor do we all want to, but I believe it is important to wear things which are true to who we are as people. That is my mission. I seek to create garments with meaning which can be worn together or added to any wardrobe. For the more costume inclined, custom services are available. If all the world is a stage, we need costumes which accurately represent our characters if we are to play our parts in full. ~