Julius Caesar

William Shakespeare Southeast Missouri State University April 2021

Costume Design Team:

Amber Marissa Cook

Cate Croghan

Costume Shop Manager: Deana. M. Luetkenhaus

I was brought on to this production as a guest artist, and I was the cutter/draper.

My responsibilities were primarily, the patterning and assembling of these capes meant to resemble Roman Togas.

With the help of the Costume Shop Manager we created a sloper of sorts from a pre-exisitng garment that had the shape and silhouette of the garment they were trying to reproduce. I started by laying that garment out and tracing the front and back patterns. From there I was able to adjust the pattern to fit what we needed for the show, and successfully reproduced a working mock-up.

The biggest challenge with these capes were the cowl necks. The cowls were meant to have soft, stylized pleats.

In total we needed 9. Our deadline until first dress was two weeks from when I started. Within that first week, I got all of the patterning done, made a mock-up, cut out all the pieces for 9 capes, and assembled them for fittings the next week.

By the next week I assisted the costume designer of the capes, Cate Croghan, in their fittings.

By the second week, we got all of the capes fit, alterations added, embellishments, added and garments fully finished with closures and labels.

My second responsibility was assisting Amber Marisa Cook, with assembling a cape for Julius Caesar. The cape was made from a pre-existing garment. But it had to do a few things for it to work for the show. I added on a 4" extension into the hem. From there I created a faux center front with a cowl.

The buttons in the cape were rigged with pockets and silk streamers to resemble blood. In the show Caesar is stabbed and the actress playing him would remove the buttons which had the silk streamers attached, to resemble blood spilling out.