Costuming Belle is not a particularly creative project. Every small child who comes to see the production expects to see Belle wearing her iconic blue jumper with a blue bow and white apron. And, again, she is expected to wear a yellow poofy ball gown. There are some things you just can’t fight. THE BLUE…
“Be Our Guest” is one of the BPN’s as I like to call them (Big Production Numbers) in “Beauty and the Beast”. How do you turn people into silverware? And dance? On a budget? Seriously? The range of ideas is vast and there are many different interpretations, varying in complexity, cost and…
The first step to costuming the Beast is to determine his character . . .is he Princely? Evil? Comical? How close to “animal” is he? My Director envisioned her Beast as Princely and more human than animal. So, that shaped the way the costume was developed. I have previously discussed the creation of the Beast…
The villain of “Beauty and the Beast” is Gaston, and he spends his free time hanging out in his tavern. This is also where he plans his dastardly deeds. In the opening there is a little ditty and the Tavern Wenches do a little dance. I wanted them to have a prop to dance with.…
The musical “Beauty & the Beast” starts out with a Prologue telling the tale of how the Prince was transformed into the hideous Beast. The Narrator describes the old witch coming to the door, offering a rose in exchange for shelter from the night, and being turned away by the Prince. She then transforms into…
When we did our production of “Beauty and the Beast” Babette was by far the easiest Enchanted costume to create. As luck would have it, I knew the director was thinking about doing the show . . . and one day at a thrift store I saw this wonderful tulip-shaped black dress that just screamed “Babette”…
I am almost done working my way through the costuming of “Beauty and the Beast”. Sewing and blogging have sort of taken back-seats to some other goings-on in my life . . gardening, moving kids to-and-from college & apartments, WORK, trying to move my sewing area, and some other volunteer commitments. I have a whole…
Cogsworth . .that blustering, pompous bundle of nerves. I love his character and think he has some of the best lines in the show. Cogsworth is a clock, so I think his costume by definition needs to have some sort of boxy shape. Typically it will have some sort of hat/headpiece, as well as a…
Lumiere. Lumiere is one of the “problem” costumes in Beauty & the Beast. Now . .if you are a professional, you can make really neat hand pieces with real flames and everything. If you have electrical skills, you can maybe wire something up . . . if your skills are more in the sewing area.…
Mrs. Potts is one of the more unique costumes in “Beauty & the Beast”. Her iconic teapot shape can be more than a bit challenging to create. Fortunately . . .there are a number of tutorials and blog posts sharing ideas . . .and here is one more to add to the “library”. I did…
