After
World War One, America was introduced to modern inventions such as radio
transmission, traffic lights, lie detectors, band aids and hair dryers. This meant that if you didn’t have enough
time to blow dry your hair because you cut yourself shaving, you could blast
the latest hit while speeding through a red light and discuss the consequences
with the police force and their new technology (theoretically, though not
recommended). World War One didn’t just
change technology, despite the fact that it is the area most text books focus
on. It was the doorway into the modern
world, changing how society thought, acted, looked and dressed. As a make-up designer and a costume quick change
assistant, it was my duty in Ah,
Wilderness! to transform the actors back into a time before war changed our
society, even if I myself was standing backstage in jeans and a t-shirt.
Watching
the BBC and using Google Image Search can only get one so far in trying to
attain the look of 1906 America (that is correct- I did turn to the British for ideas
of how America looked back then). Here are a few
behind-the-scenes snapshots at trying to live, dress and look as they did back
then.
 |
Artist Charles Dana Gibson's parody of
his original Gibson Girl drawing. |
The
Gibson (not Mel or the Les Paul Custom): The Gibson Girl hairstyle was displayed
by many of the female cast in the show.
What started out as a man’s satirical comic book drawing of the ideal
Victorian woman was embraced and brought to life and is now as much connected
with the time period as corsets and handkerchiefs. In our dressing rooms downstairs, it required
plenty of hairspray, teased hair and loads of bobby pins to pull off the
look. The goal was volume, particularly
on the stage where everything is larger than life, which can make it tricky
when getting the ladies into their costumes.
 |
| Beautiful Victorian Black Glass Buttons |
Buttons:
Buttons used to be not only necessary but also beautiful; jewelry with a
purpose. Before the wonderfully
time-saving inventions of zippers and Velcro, they were in abundant use. Think about how many buttons you have on you
while you are reading this. Double (or
perhaps even triple) the number of buttons and the amount of fabric (in
petticoats, waistcoats and jackets), and you can begin to understand why nobody
saw anybody back in the 1900s until the afternoon. It could take half the morning to get
dressed. Sadly, we didn’t have half a
morning to get all of the actors costumed.
In fact, we had less than thirty seconds in the case of one costume
change. To tell you the secrets behind
that modern costume change would most likely cause several ladies’ maids to turn
in their graves.
 |
| An example of a gentleman's collar |
Collar
Pin (or Collar Clip) (or Collar Bar): Most collar pins are only expected to do
the duty of holding the two ends of a gentleman’s dress shirt collar
together. Our collar pins worked double
hard as they were expected to hold four pieces of cloth together; two pieces of
the shirt collar and two pieces of the stiff white collar that has been added
to add a classic touch of the time period to the costumes (which makes one
sympathize with the actors whose necks don many layers of fabric under the hot
stage lights each night). We had many
options for making a collar pin that was designed for the thickness of two
pieces of fabric work for four pieces: safety pins, forcing the collar pin
through three of the four button holes, teasing the button holes to allow it to
go through all four layers, forgetting it and hoping a tie will hold it all in
place or duct tape. I shall leave it up
to you to guess what methods we employed.
