Transcript
Speaker: Welcome everyone to Content's New Bed.
Speaker: I'm Angie Feather Sutton, talking to geeky people about geeky things.
Speaker: I'm a proud fangirl geek with pieces published in stage directions, Den of Geek, The Mary Sue, and more.
Speaker: This episode's guest is Andrea Davis.
Speaker: Her background is in the film and television industry, where she's working on both television series and movies, from creating slash designing costumes and specialty wardrobe, building sets and displays, and making props.
Speaker: Additionally, she has crafted numerous costumes, accessories, props, and set pieces for commissioned work.
Speaker: She has a degree in fashion design and is an Le Cordon Bleu trained chef.
Speaker: Welcome to Contents of Me Very.
Speaker: Hello.
Speaker: So I, for those who are regular listeners to podcasts, they know what my first question is going to be.
Speaker: I always, I'm always interested in origin stories.
Speaker: So what kind of talk about a little bit, how, like how you got into designing costumes and props and whatnot, what, and that moment where you realized it was something more than quote unquote, just a hobby.
Speaker: I think I've always been interested in not necessarily fashion, but actual costume design.
Speaker: Um, I grew up,
Speaker: My grandmother and my great aunt had worked in the New York garment industry when it started.
Speaker: So, uh, I got a little taste of, of how to do stuff from them.
Speaker: I mean, they could just look at something and just make it.
Speaker: And I was like, I need to learn how to do that.
Speaker: So I kind of got the bug from them.
Speaker: My mom and I were into Halloween.
Speaker: So she would, she would try to make me costumes as best she could.
Speaker: And then I just kind of, as soon as I started learning, actually had to sew on a machine, I just kind of took off from that.
Speaker: This is like eighties when we were in California and we started going to conventions and there were small conventions, you know, not like the big mega conventions we have now.
Speaker: These were maybe a few hundred people at a time.
Speaker: So, you know, everybody got to know each other.
Speaker: People had all kinds of different skill sets.
Speaker: And there was always like a custom contest or a masquerade as some people call them and you could do anything you wanted.
Speaker: You didn't have to have, you know, a comic book character or a movie character.
Speaker: You would come as, you know, a book character or somebody from your own imagination.
Speaker: And it was just, it was fun.
Speaker: You know, I say this, it was back when conventions were fun because they were smaller and I think a lot more intimate.
Speaker: And now it's, for me, conventions are, eh, they're okay, but it's such a bye, bye, bye.
Speaker: Too many people, you know, look at me, look at me, look at me.
Speaker: It's kind of lost the charm.
Speaker: Well, that's always a question I always ask.
Speaker: Have you been in LA your whole life or you mentioned travel a little bit?
Speaker: No, no.
Speaker: I moved up here when I started dating my husband in 94 and I was still living in San Diego.
Speaker: I was doing small commissions down there.
Speaker: I was working out of my home studio, actually had a separate room in the back that was just all costume stuff.
Speaker: And people would call me up and say, hey, I need to think of this and kind of go from there if it was within their budget and something that they actually really wanted to do and got into fashion design because they didn't really have costuming or the actual stuff.
Speaker: you know, like they have now.
Speaker: I think it's a lot more.
Speaker: But I started dating my husband, eventually moved up here.
Speaker: We were living over on the west side and then eventually moved into Burbank.
Speaker: But just from people that I had met at conventions and knew, just ended up falling in with a group of people who actually did work for film and television and started working with them.
Speaker: That was going to be my next question.
Speaker: How you got into the industry.
Speaker: Talk a little bit more about that and kind of, you said you kind of fell into it, but just a little bit more about that.
Speaker: I had already had a good sewing skill set.
Speaker: I was one of those people who could pattern, draft, drape, besides just sewing things.
Speaker: And then when I started working for this one set of people, they were doing more props.
Speaker: So I started learning how to make props.
Speaker: And that was, you know, pouring resin, doing electronics, cleaning up things.
Speaker: And because I was able to do more wardrobe stuff, they would kind of say, hey, we've got this coming in.
Speaker: How do we deal with this?
Speaker: And so my skill sets kind of just grew from there, which was interesting.
Speaker: We were not a company that went to set a lot.
Speaker: thankfully.
Speaker: And then I, when they, uh, when they kind of toned down how much they were doing and who the, who they were having come in as clients, they unfortunately had to scale back some, some of the people that were working there.
Speaker: So I started going out and talking to my contacts and other people I know.
Speaker: And it's like, yeah, we've got a wardrobe job job over here and we've got this.
Speaker: And I fell in,
Speaker: with another company who does, their main thing was spacesuits.
Speaker: So I started working with them and going to set way more with them as a specialty wardrobe person.
Speaker: And that was fun, but I was never union.
Speaker: And a lot of the people that I was meeting on set who were so-called costumers, a lot of them couldn't even sell a button on.
Speaker: And I was like, what?
Speaker: Well, walk me through, I mean, I know each costume is different and each prop is different, but walk me through like one of your favorites, kind of how you came across, how you decided to design it, what the process of that.
Speaker: Before, let's see, probably about 2009, before that I was still, for fun, I was still entering some of the costume contests slash masquerades.
Speaker: And it was just a combination of, I've got all these skill sets,
Speaker: I'm not constantly using, you know, let's go ahead and put something together, enter the masquerade, have some fun with it.
Speaker: Not really going into, I'm going to win everything.
Speaker: No, I'm going in to kind of show off what I can do and have fun and managed to talk a few people into doing it with me who had no idea what they were getting into.
Speaker: But it was a lot of fun.
Speaker: I've done, uh, I've always done obscure characters, you know, cause you, you go to some of these things and it's like, Oh look Batman again.
Speaker: Oh look Spiderman again.
Speaker: Oh look Superman again.
Speaker: You're just kind of like, anyone, anyone, different, something.
Speaker: So I would choose obscure characters or pieces of artwork.
Speaker: that people are like, oh wow, that's really cool, that's really different.
Speaker: Before I moved up here completely, I was working at the Pageant of Masters for about two seasons.
Speaker: And that was kind of, it's kind of quick and dirty because there's no up-close stuff.
Speaker: Everything is from a distance and you're creating more of an illusion.
Speaker: So basically you're taking a piece of artwork, whether it's a painting or a sculpture or
Speaker: you know, a postcard or something and you're creating it as a 3D piece, but everything is painted and lit.
Speaker: So it looks two dimensional.
Speaker: So that was, that was interesting working with them.
Speaker: I had a lot of fun and then I ended up getting another job up here and moved, you know, continued working up here.
Speaker: I was working for, um, Nordstrom display department.
Speaker: Every time you see things in the window or the Christmas stuff or things in the store, there was a whole actually background crew that would come in and do that all year long.
Speaker: So we were building, if they had any fashion shows going on, we were the ones doing all the sets for them, helping out some of the models, just stuff like that.
Speaker: So that was just, I've always done something creative.
Speaker: And I just kind of lucked out and got paid for it.
Speaker: What draws you to it?
Speaker: Why do this versus any of the other possibilities out there?
Speaker: I love learning new things.
Speaker: So when you're doing props, costumes, specialty wardrobe, sets, even working with a client, you're always learning something new.
Speaker: You're always being challenged to add your skill set.
Speaker: And I think when I started in it cost costumes, you know, Oh, you costume people.
Speaker: It was still kind of looked down upon by, you know, Oh, you're fringe.
Speaker: Oh, you go to conventions.
Speaker: Oh, you're a weirdo.
Speaker: It's like, no, no.
Speaker: I grew up watching old Hollywood.
Speaker: So, and that's another thing that really got me into costuming and theater and things like that.
Speaker: And,
Speaker: being able to come to a place and be able to learn more and people aren't looking down on you because of something you actually love to do.
Speaker: It was really nice.
Speaker: And as we get into the nineties and the early two thousands costumes, people dressing up, people sharing skill sets,
Speaker: new technologies coming out.
Speaker: It was becoming more and more acceptable.
Speaker: I mean, you weren't the weirdo.
Speaker: So it helped.
Speaker: But don't call me a cosplayer, because I'm not a cosplayer.
Speaker: I was going to say, what's the difference?
Speaker: I was actually at the 1984 Worldcon where the term was supposedly coined.
Speaker: But, well, let's put it this way.
Speaker: When you go to a movie...
Speaker: and you're looking through the credits or you're watching TV and you're looking through the credits, you don't see cosplay designer, you see a costume designer.
Speaker: And most classically trained costume designers, they're gonna have a list of skill sets.
Speaker: They're gonna have to know how to do things.
Speaker: Whether you're theater, TV, film, independent.
Speaker: And to me, as I said, a lot of people nowadays
Speaker: they're a lot of them to me this is just my personal experience they're doing it for the look at me look at me look at me and I'm like why and half of them don't make their own stuff so I just I'm like no no I don't need anybody I'm not here you know shouting look at me it's like no I know what I can do and people who want something interesting or different know they can find me and talk to me and
Speaker: is see if they're gonna be able to get what they want or I'll call somebody up that I know and say, Hey, I got this client who wants this.
Speaker: How about, you know, you, you take this cause this is more of your skillset.
Speaker: So I'm not, I don't do armor.
Speaker: I do fake armor.
Speaker: Let's talk about that.
Speaker: What kind of armor?
Speaker: Once again, I do more, this is from the, all my prop.
Speaker: learning how to do stuff.
Speaker: I do more along the lines of plastics, which is you're going to sculpt a piece, you're going to take that piece and you may be doing more vacuum forming on top of it.
Speaker: So it's, it's not the stuff that you see now with the warbler and some of the other thermal plastics and things like that.
Speaker: I do know how to work with that stuff, but when you're
Speaker: from my experience, from everything that we were making for film and television, you want something that's gonna take the abuse.
Speaker: When you're on set, it's gonna take the abuse, it's gonna hold up, and it's gonna look as realistic as it needs to be.
Speaker: I see a lot of people out there, as I said, there's a lot more communication and people teaching each other how to do things.
Speaker: which I think is fantastic, but some of that information is not always correct or safe.
Speaker: So I have friends who actually build armor, real armor with hammer and on the anvil and doing stuff.
Speaker: And I look at that, I'm like, that's fantastic, but not really what I want to do.
Speaker: There's other people who just do leather armor.
Speaker: I know a lot of people who are reenactors.
Speaker: So that's something completely different.
Speaker: I got into a little bit of the Victorian recreations.
Speaker: So that's historical costuming.
Speaker: So that's kind of fun.
Speaker: But I think a lot of people...
Speaker: Like I'll have somebody come to me and say, I want to recreate this or I want this outfit from this movie.
Speaker: And I'm like, well, this is the shape that you're looking at, what you're seeing.
Speaker: There's a whole layer of undergarments to get that top layer look.
Speaker: How much do you want to get into this?
Speaker: Or do you just want something simple and easy because you're going to a convention or an event or
Speaker: or things like that.
Speaker: And I make people think about what they're getting into.
Speaker: How are you going to the bathroom in that?
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Where's your keys and your wallet going?
Speaker: I know it varies depending on project, but kind of give me an average of how long it takes you to put together a costume.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Here's something that I did.
Speaker: for myself, basically.
Speaker: This was 18 months because everything you're seeing that I'm wearing, that I'm holding, that I'm standing on had to be made from scratch.
Speaker: So that's 18 months of work after a regular work day.
Speaker: And there's, it's stage piece, there's props, there's wardrobe in this.
Speaker: So there's just about every skillset I have went into making this.
Speaker: then there's people who just want clothing.
Speaker: And once again, as I said, it's like, well, where are you going?
Speaker: What are you doing in this?
Speaker: What kind of functionality are you trying to get out of it?
Speaker: And how far in do you want to go?
Speaker: Do you want all the correct undergarments?
Speaker: Are you just trying to fudge it and have fun?
Speaker: What exactly are you doing with it?
Speaker: And that's what I always try to get across to my clients.
Speaker: It's like, okay, what's your budget?
Speaker: what do you want out of this outfit?
Speaker: Do you want, is this a one shot or do you want to wear this more than once?
Speaker: So it can, it can go from like natural fibers to somebody's in, you know, leather and other kinds of bits with armor and then they've got to have a wig and makeup.
Speaker: So there's, there's this balance.
Speaker: And then as I said, okay, so you're, you're going to convention.
Speaker: Do you have a handler?
Speaker: You know,
Speaker: You have somebody to make sure you've got your wallet and your keys and your hotel key.
Speaker: You know, and nobody's coming up and doing inappropriate things if they want a picture with you.
Speaker: So it really just depends.
Speaker: It could go from like a few hundred bucks or it could go from me, you know, somebody calling me up and says, I can't get this damn zipper in, can you help me?
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: To...
Speaker: some big ridiculous thing that, you know, I'm like, well, make sure you got a handler because otherwise you're, you know, you could walk into something, walk off of something.
Speaker: Just things like that.
Speaker: Now the bio, part of your bio I didn't read, but I was interested in it.
Speaker: It says you're a four-time best in show winner of the San Diego Comic-Con International Masquerade Contest, and you've been a workmanship judge for the WonderCon Masquerade for the San Diego Comic-Con International.
Speaker: Let's talk a little bit about that.
Speaker: Kind of what made you decide to go for it, what drew you to it, and also we'll talk a little bit about what it takes to judge.
Speaker: I started going to Comic Con, it was in San Diego, obviously.
Speaker: 1981 was my first Comic Con and it was still small.
Speaker: But I got, as I said, I got bit by the bug because that year they're like, oh yeah, we have this costume contest.
Speaker: And it was just like, oh.
Speaker: And I was like, I want to do this.
Speaker: And it's like a look, and there's other people here who want to do this.
Speaker: And there's an audience that loves to see these people doing this.
Speaker: So I kind of got into it, you know, for that reason.
Speaker: And then as along the way, I just started building on my skillsets and would come up with skits, you know, dorky things.
Speaker: Once again, not, I'm going in to win it.
Speaker: It's like, no, I'm going in it to have fun, meet other people.
Speaker: There's always somebody who's going to specialize in something.
Speaker: And maybe their skill sets, you're just like, no, my mind is blown.
Speaker: And there's other people who are looking at you going, oh, I'm not worthy.
Speaker: And you're like, what?
Speaker: You're like, no, come on, this is for everybody.
Speaker: So the first masquerade, 1984,
Speaker: I convinced a group of friends.
Speaker: We had just, we were still in high school.
Speaker: And I'm like, come on, you all want to do this with me, right?
Speaker: They're like, oh, okay.
Speaker: So we did ElfQuest.
Speaker: And that was, let's see, that was the original quest.
Speaker: So, you know, my, I'm the only one really there who was doing any kind of sewing.
Speaker: Everybody else was kind of like hanging out.
Speaker: And, you know, I'm like,
Speaker: putting stuff together, trying to figure things out.
Speaker: And I think there was one other girl that was helping me.
Speaker: She like made her sister's costume and she, you know, she was like stagehand with us and I didn't finish my boots.
Speaker: I'm like, well, let's pin you in.
Speaker: I'm like, no, I'm not putting pins in me to go on stage.
Speaker: That's insane.
Speaker: And I'm like,
Speaker: I am Sanjay Nambiar, an author and creator of the Super Amazing Princess Heroes.
Speaker: We're here at the Festival of Books for the LA Times Festival of Books at USC.
Speaker: Having a great time.
Speaker: You can check us out at superprincessheroes.com.
Speaker: Also on social media at princessheroes.
Speaker: And we are geeking out with Angie Fiedler Sutton.
Speaker: Having a great time doing so.
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Speaker: They are all available at my website, AngieFSutton.com.
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Speaker: You may wind up on a future episode.
Speaker: And now back to my interview with Andrea Davis.
Speaker: Well, that's a, I mean, how do you balance comfort versus functionality versus making sure it still quote unquote looks right?
Speaker: I think you can get away when you're on stage and it's just a stage costume.
Speaker: I think you can get away with fudging more things.
Speaker: You know, like I like to say, it's 90 seconds in the dark.
Speaker: So, you know, maybe, you know, you're always going to be the one that knows every single detail that didn't get on there or, you know, maybe,
Speaker: when you're in it, you're like, oh, I should have done it this way or things like that.
Speaker: But we ended up, you know, we ended up winning best in show that year.
Speaker: And we were all like, what?
Speaker: It was a shock, but it was still, it was still not really a really well-known comic, but it still had a fan, a good fan base.
Speaker: It was like generating like this, just coming up.
Speaker: And
Speaker: We were all like we had fun.
Speaker: We had fun with it.
Speaker: About a month later we went out to Belleville Park into a photo shoot.
Speaker: And that, you know, of course people are like, what are you guys doing?
Speaker: And we're like, oh, we're just doing a photo shoot, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker: So that was 84.
Speaker: And I started doing stuff almost every year.
Speaker: 85 we did a Robotech group.
Speaker: 86, we came in and did a comic book called The Warlord by Mike Grell.
Speaker: Ended up meeting him and he was just like, you know, jaw on floor.
Speaker: Oh my God, you guys look just like it.
Speaker: So that was a lot of fun.
Speaker: That was when DC and Marvel would actually give out cash rather than, hey, I know you guys are a group, but we got you this statue.
Speaker: It's like, oh gosh, thanks.
Speaker: So, uh, 86 was Warlord.
Speaker: We ended up winning best in show for that.
Speaker: DC came in and said, well, we, we had this check for $200.
Speaker: picks it up, rips it up, that's gone.
Speaker: She goes, we're increasing this and we're giving it to you guys.
Speaker: And it was so weird because, you know, once again, obscure comic book, not really sure a lot of people knew what the heck it was.
Speaker: And the group that had gone on right before us, and this was like the height of popularity, were really cool Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Speaker: But they couldn't move.
Speaker: You can only move their arms and legs.
Speaker: Like the faces didn't move.
Speaker: This was all like real, somebody had done a really good foam work and they all looked the same like they did in the original comic.
Speaker: So I was like, well, okay, there's that.
Speaker: And then we go on and they're like, best in show.
Speaker: And I'm like, okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I don't think.
Speaker: And then we started, a lot of us started, you know, we had graduated.
Speaker: We were going off to different colleges.
Speaker: We were separated for a while.
Speaker: So I said, okay, let's, does anybody want to keep doing this?
Speaker: Because I got another idea.
Speaker: So we, this group that I had, we did one more competition.
Speaker: And that was, it was 1988.
Speaker: And that was the last time I did stuff with that group.
Speaker: And then I started getting more into college work and theater work and
Speaker: other stuff and I was just going to the convention at that point and getting more skill sets and then somebody I ran, knew at another job they're like, hey I'm working at this place called Pageant of the Masters, why don't you, you know, come up into the costume department.
Speaker: So I was like, okay, it's a 70 mile drive every day one way, sure.
Speaker: So I was driving every day, Monday through Friday, up to Laguna Beach and working with that group of people and learning more things.
Speaker: And they were, they were pretty chill, but they were a well-oiled machine of, you know, this department, this department, and this department, all the departments actually knitted together and worked very well.
Speaker: And you could move around, but I was learning so much with,
Speaker: the costuming department, because it was completely different, because there was no up close.
Speaker: So it was all like, this is the illusion from here.
Speaker: And then I was also doing some set building and whatnot with one of the guys who was their set builder, and he had his own company, and then I would do some side gigs with him.
Speaker: So it was constantly doing something, constantly learning something, learning how to interact with other people for a bigger show, bigger basis, just doing more stuff.
Speaker: And I think a lot of that really helped when I eventually moved up here to L.A.
Speaker: because I was still working for Nordstrom.
Speaker: And they were kind of like, well, you know, we're thinking we may start, you know,
Speaker: cutting this department back across the board.
Speaker: I was like, crap.
Speaker: So I was talking with my friends, we're like, oh, hey, we're getting to this startup company.
Speaker: You wanna come in and see if it's something you wanna do?
Speaker: I was like, sure.
Speaker: What it turned out to be was one of the first prop replica companies.
Speaker: Their first item was Luke's lightsaber.
Speaker: So,
Speaker: I came in and was originally just assembly and they started adding more products to be produced.
Speaker: And they weren't producing anything in China.
Speaker: Everything was being made here.
Speaker: But from there, unfortunately, that company was not run very well.
Speaker: And even though they did have some of the licenses, just financially, they could not keep up with what they were doing and the people that they were hiring
Speaker: You would have been better off at McDonald's.
Speaker: But the guys who were in the R&D department, they're like, okay, well, we want you to come and work with us, and this is what we do.
Speaker: And they were actually working on a lot of Star Trek shows.
Speaker: So I was brought in to start learning how to build stuff.
Speaker: And then they're like, oh yeah, you can sew, and you can pattern, and you can do this other stuff.
Speaker: Great, well, we have
Speaker: you know, can you do this?
Speaker: And I was like, yeah, and if I can't, I'll learn how to do it.
Speaker: So I did that for probably about 20 years, 20 plus years.
Speaker: This is another friend of mine who was working at the same place.
Speaker: He ended up going to a different prop shop and he was heavily, heavily going to set and doing a lot more work.
Speaker: And eventually when this company that I was working for kind of slowed down a bit and
Speaker: when the owners passed away, unfortunately.
Speaker: It was never really the same after that.
Speaker: But still, you know, good people.
Speaker: We all worked well together, but they weren't a go-to set hangout and deal with stuff like that.
Speaker: That was just like, you'd get all this stuff made, the property master would come and pick it up, and the only time we'd hear from them is like, it's maybe something broke,
Speaker: more along the lines of, hey, all of our stuff got stolen over the weekend.
Speaker: Don't you guys lock stuff up?
Speaker: So that's another story.
Speaker: So how does that get into being a judge for Cosplayer?
Speaker: Ah, so because I had won and entered so many times at Comic-Con and some of the other smaller conventions that were going on in the 80s, the person who ended up running the masquerade, still running the masquerade, asked me, hey,
Speaker: you know, I know you're, you know, you're still really into this and I know now you work industry.
Speaker: Would you, you know, would you be interested in coming in and being a workmanship judge?
Speaker: And I said, sure.
Speaker: You know, what do you need me to do?
Speaker: What do you, what kind of requirements?
Speaker: You know, I know rules and regulations and things have changed.
Speaker: So, fell into that.
Speaker: And basically I was the person that would come in
Speaker: And you know, everyone's like, Oh, we, we all want to see the workmanship.
Speaker: I'm like, we don't have that kind of talk.
Speaker: But I'm like, I, you know, tell everybody point blank.
Speaker: It's like, I'm going to pick up your costume or prop, whatever it is.
Speaker: I'm going to look, did you finish your seams?
Speaker: Did you clip your threads?
Speaker: Did you, are your electronics clean?
Speaker: You know, what am I looking at?
Speaker: What is,
Speaker: something that you're really proud of.
Speaker: Did you learn a new skill doing something?
Speaker: You know, why do you want me as the workmanship judge to look at your costume?
Speaker: And a lot of people were just like, during the headlight kind of a thing.
Speaker: But I was always more positive of, you know, little snippets of advice.
Speaker: And the way that I based it on was like, okay, if they specifically said, you know, I learned a new skill set or I did
Speaker: this or my mom and I or my friends and I I would take what they said backstage of how they put everything together and then I would combine that with what they did on stage and that's how I would base how I was giving that
Speaker: award or you know how I judge because when you've got 40 entries and that might be one person or it might be 10 people for the entry you know you've got to do it like this and you're writing down things as fast as you can making notes a lot of people would make like little booklets or a little something of you know here's me building it or here's what I did or here's the reference material because
Speaker: There's so much stuff out there now between video games, comic books, graphic, you know, so much media out there.
Speaker: There's no guarantee that the person that you're talking to about your costume is gonna know what you are.
Speaker: So that's something I always tell people.
Speaker: It's like, make sure at the very least the person you're talking to knows what your costume is.
Speaker: Is it anime?
Speaker: Is it movies?
Speaker: Is it television?
Speaker: Is it a book?
Speaker: What is it?
Speaker: You know, I've had people say it's like, oh, well, you know, it's this character, but this artist drew it, so I'm using them as what I built the costume on.
Speaker: And I'm like, I actually know who that is.
Speaker: So I'd be like, great.
Speaker: What is your favorite part of costuming and prop designing?
Speaker: Probably the build.
Speaker: Building it.
Speaker: A lot of times when you're working with a property master, they will...
Speaker: they might come in and say, oh, by the way, we need this.
Speaker: And you're kind of like, well, that's great, but that's a change.
Speaker: That's a rush change.
Speaker: My crew's going to have to be here all night long to get this done.
Speaker: Now, that's common for a lot of places.
Speaker: But that's, you know, you're still kind of like, it's five o'clock in the morning and I'm crispy.
Speaker: That's my next question.
Speaker: Your least favorite part of.
Speaker: I would say people just not, well, say for the film and television industry, the all-nighters, things like that, for if you're just working with a regular client, them having unrealistic expectations of what their budget allows.
Speaker: You know, as I said, I always try to talk to people.
Speaker: It's like, okay, so are you going to the bathroom by yourself?
Speaker: How are you sitting down?
Speaker: How are you gonna eat and drink in that outfit?
Speaker: These are all things, you know, because when I make stuff, I make it so that it's functional.
Speaker: So you can sit down in it, so you can go to the bathroom by yourself, so you can eat and drink in it without, you know, as long as you don't have a head.
Speaker: I take all this into consideration just because I've been on that end of I'm in an outfit.
Speaker: Oh my God, this is incredibly uncomfortable.
Speaker: Let's never do this again.
Speaker: So I try to get that point across when I'm doing stuff for clients or if I'm at a shop and we're doing something and they're putting something together.
Speaker: I'm like, well, is this person going to have a handler?
Speaker: And if so, great.
Speaker: If not, we gotta make it so they're not gonna pass out.
Speaker: Or when I was working with a company who was doing all the spacesuits for things, one of the first things you'd have to ask the actors when they would come to the shop for fittings was, are you claustrophobic?
Speaker: Because you will be covered from head to toe.
Speaker: Oh no, I'm fine.
Speaker: You get them in the suit and you suddenly see, boink, the eye is just like, oh, oh, oh.
Speaker: It's like, okay, we're gonna take the helmet off.
Speaker: We're gonna take the gloves off.
Speaker: Here's something to sit down on.
Speaker: You're okay.
Speaker: You know, or you would just have to take it slow and just be there for them.
Speaker: Since you were the, usually you were the one who either built it or built part of it or
Speaker: I just knew how to handle people, actors or not, so that they didn't panic.
Speaker: What are some of the tools that you use on a regular basis?
Speaker: I mean, obviously sewing machine, but I mean, in terms of building props and all that, do you use a 3D printer, for example?
Speaker: I do not.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: 3D printing wasn't a big thing when I had started and neither for the guys who I was working with.
Speaker: I think the biggest shakeup was Pepecura, which is a program.
Speaker: And that was shaking people up a little bit.
Speaker: And now you've got so many people, 3D printing being so common now and people writing programs for things.
Speaker: I feel a way that it's kind of cheating.
Speaker: because you don't necessarily have to have the skills to build from scratch.
Speaker: You're like, well, I've got this design and I've programmed the printer.
Speaker: I mean, you still got some cleanup and you still got parts to assemble and things like that.
Speaker: But I think it's not like, I don't really sculpt and I have friends who just sculpt.
Speaker: It's like, but I can sit down and I can learn
Speaker: Vacuforming is different.
Speaker: You're taking a design from a 2D concept and you're creating that in three dimension.
Speaker: Well, if it's going on somebody's arm, it all has to be proportioned for that person.
Speaker: I think like a lot of the newer Star Trek stuff, a lot of their stuff is 3D printed or
Speaker: They go to high end designers for some of their outfits.
Speaker: So I think it's, it's just a, it's a little bit different.
Speaker: I've noticed a lot of people when I have been on set, they don't have a lot of skill sets that I consider a costumer actually needs to have.
Speaker: Like?
Speaker: Can't sew a button on.
Speaker: They don't know how to fix a zipper when, they don't know how to fix a seam when something breaks.
Speaker: And you know, to me it's like, well,
Speaker: Where did you guys go to school?
Speaker: Oh, we didn't go to school.
Speaker: Then how are you a costumer?
Speaker: Like, well, we just got in the union because we knew somebody.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So if someone wanted to get into it, what would be some of your advice that you would give?
Speaker: You mean just costuming in general?
Speaker: Costuming and designing.
Speaker: Learn as much as you can.
Speaker: If you're doing any kind of costuming, whether it's historical or not,
Speaker: Know your timelines.
Speaker: Know what was going on.
Speaker: Understand upper class, middle class, lower class, why they wore the things they did, why they, you know, this class couldn't wear this color.
Speaker: What, you know, the technology, when we get into, say, the Victorian era, there's different dyes being used, some of them quite toxic.
Speaker: People didn't know these things back then.
Speaker: So I think,
Speaker: As I said, I think people need to learn as much as they can for the love of God, at least know how to hand sew, if nothing else.
Speaker: And I think with the amount of information that's out there now, people can teach themselves a lot of things.
Speaker: They can go and take classes for stuff, you know, don't, don't poo poo classes because
Speaker: Maybe the person who's teaching the class isn't the greatest speaker, but what you will learn from them will help you get better at what you're doing, improve your skill sets.
Speaker: Learn pattern making, learn how to draft, learn how to drape.
Speaker: It's not just for fashion.
Speaker: If you're making something, you're making clothing of some type.
Speaker: This is something that has to go on a body that helps.
Speaker: Now, is there something... We're getting close to the end.
Speaker: Was there something that you thought I was going to ask that I haven't or something that you wanted to talk about that we haven't?
Speaker: Not really.
Speaker: I mean, this could be a long-term running conversation.
Speaker: Oh, yes.
Speaker: For everything that's out there, everything that happens.
Speaker: I just would like people to...
Speaker: You know, be kind to each other.
Speaker: Don't think that you have to call attention to yourself all the time.
Speaker: Just be happy with it.
Speaker: Have fun with it.
Speaker: If you get the opportunity to work in the film and television industry, you know, learn as much as you can with the people that you're working with.
Speaker: Because you never know where that's going to go.
Speaker: I'm kind of getting out of that.
Speaker: I'm still on a call with a lot of people I know.
Speaker: They're like, Hey, are you, are you available for something?
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: What do you need?
Speaker: You get to meet a lot of really cool people on set for the love of God.
Speaker: Learn sedicate.
Speaker: That's very, very important, but you know, have fun with what you're doing.
Speaker: Don't do it because you're, you want the attention.
Speaker: Do it because it's actually something you want to do, want to learn.
Speaker: Because you never know who you can help with that.
Speaker: Now, if someone wants to find out more about you or get ahold of you, how would they do that?
Speaker: I have a costuming website, which is, uh, couturecostumesandfrops.com.
Speaker: I'm on Facebook.
Speaker: I have a small, a smaller side company, which I do a lot of, uh,
Speaker: little plush critters.
Speaker: That's called Reginald and Vex.
Speaker: And everything here is made in the home studio.
Speaker: So if somebody needs help with something, you know, shoot me an email.
Speaker: You know, hit me up on Facebook.
Speaker: And as always, those will be in the show notes for those.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Are we ready for the lightning round?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: For, for those who are new listeners, I have created a list of now 17 questions that I ask.
Speaker: I put it in random order.
Speaker: The whole goal is that this is for, this is just for fun.
Speaker: We had the serious interview.
Speaker: This is now the fun interview.
Speaker: And so it's more just off the cuff.
Speaker: The first thing that comes to your mind, um,
Speaker: to be silly about with it kind of thing.
Speaker: So are you ready?
Speaker: Uh, I guess so.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Favorite smell.
Speaker: Ooh, baking bread.
Speaker: What is your favorite time of day?
Speaker: Uh, twilight.
Speaker: Favorite meal.
Speaker: Breakfast.
Speaker: If you were a superhero or a villain, what power would you want?
Speaker: Hmm.
Speaker: The powers of a cube.
Speaker: Favorite color.
Speaker: What is your favorite stovetop burner?
Speaker: Upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right?
Speaker: I would say lower left.
Speaker: Who would you want to play you in the movie of your life?
Speaker: I have no idea.
Speaker: Favorite or lucky number?
Speaker: Seven.
Speaker: Who's your favorite, Bond, Doctor, or Batman?
Speaker: Well, I am a Sean Connery fan, so we'll go with that.
Speaker: man.
Speaker: And doctor?
Speaker: Doctor!
Speaker: Oh gosh.
Speaker: It's between Matt and previous.
Speaker: David Janet?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: What's your go-to song to sing in the shower?
Speaker: I don't.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Would you rather see Captain Kirk become a Jedi or see Luke Skywalker become captain of the Enterprise?
Speaker: Neither.
Speaker: Thoughts on pineapple and pizza?
Speaker: Well, I would say instead of ham, you know, sliced ham, go with nice crispy bacon, brown sugar pineapple, and balsamic drizzle on top.
Speaker: What's your favorite curse word?
Speaker: And yes, you are allowed to curse.
Speaker: Fuck!
Speaker: What's your comfort movie?
Speaker: Comfort movie?
Speaker: Oh.
Speaker: The movie you watch when you're feeling low and you just want something to make you feel better.
Speaker: For those who are listening, I'm looking at a wall of movies, of DVDs.
Speaker: Oddly enough, I could watch, this may not be a comfort movie, but this is just something that's fun to have in the background.
Speaker: Oh, Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Speaker: Okay, that's a good one.
Speaker: What is your favorite superstition or conspiracy theory?
Speaker: You don't have to necessarily believe it.
Speaker: Superstition?
Speaker: Hmm.
Speaker: threshold.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Favorite drink?
Speaker: Tea.
Speaker: And then when you're getting dressed, do you button and zip or zip then button?
Speaker: Zip and then button.
Speaker: Whatever that means.
Speaker: Got that from Babylon 5, which I see you have Crusader, so I'm assuming you... I got the Holden.
Speaker: And that's a wrap for this episode.
Speaker: Thanks to Andrea Davis for being interviewed.
Speaker: As always, any websites mentioned are in the show notes for this episode on my website.
Speaker: Thanks to also Sanjay Nambier for the mid-show plug.
Speaker: I interviewed him as part of episode 24 with Super Princesses.
Speaker: This is Angie Fiedler-Sutton from One-on-One Interviews to Red Carpets and Conventions to Roundtable Discussions.
Speaker: I bring you a little bit of everything.
Speaker: After all, contents may vary.
Speaker: Thanks for listening to Contents May Vary, the theme song of Schoolyard Haze by Yari Picnickin, available via the Free Music Archive.
Speaker: More information about the podcast is available on my website, angiefsutton.com.
