Flow Arts Fashion #1 – Creating Top-Notch Costume Looks on a Tight Budget

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Flow Arts Fashion #1 – Creating Top-Notch Costume Looks on a Tight Budget

As a professional performer I get a lot of questions about the shows, the business, and the lifestyle; but most of all, about what I’m wearing! These questions aren’t just from aspiring performers, but from everyone. After all, who doesn’t love a good costume?

For flow artists and other performers, costuming isn’t just fun – in my opinion, it’s a necessity. Costuming sets us apart from audience members and adds the magic for the audience. Even flow artists who don’t perform in a traditional way want to look great at festivals and other events.

What a lot of folks don’t realize, however, is that truly amazing costume looks can be created without breaking the bank. That’s why today, I’m going to explore my favorite ways to create absolute fabulousness on a teeny tiny budget.

I’m not going to go over sewing your costume from scratch – this is a great low-cost option (at least, it can be) if you have the skills, time, and desire – but many of us don’t have those things, or want a quicker costume fix.

First, assess what you have

Many of the costume looks I create come from items I already have in my closet. Yes, I do have elaborate costume pieces in there, but many more of my wardrobe pieces are multi-use. When is the last time you’ve looked through your closet in a new, creative light?

I like to keep a binder of interesting costume concepts as I find them in magazines and books. You can also go the more modern route and use Pinterest to get inspiration for a specific look you hope to convey. These visual inspiration collections are a lifesaver whenever I find myself in a costume rut or without inspiration for a designated idea I want to achieve.

If you are trying to execute a specific look, try to identify any colors, designs, or other small details that make the idea really stand out.

Once you have some ideas, take everything even remotely interesting out of your closet and look for any small, unique details you may not have noticed before. You can also pull out accessories or small costume pieces using the same method. If you are aiming for a certain look, see if any of the details you find echo those in your inspiration pieces.

Whichever design elements you choose, the goal is to build an entire new ensemble around this small detail. Think about all of the different ways the pieces you have chosen can be worn. Can they be layered in an unexpected way? Can anything be worn differently? For example, I have worn skirts as dresses and shirts as skirts.

If anything is missing from the final look (such as a hat or other accessory), list it out. If anything you already have could be decorated to look more costumey, take note of that as well. Get creative!

Finding new pieces without spending a fortune

So you have gone through what you have and have made a list of what you still need. Now that it’s time to shop, having visual inspiration in a binder or on your phone is going to continue to help you. If you know you are trying to channel a certain type of character, it will be much easier to look at a potential piece and decide whether or not it fits into your costume concept. You won’t waste money on something that just isn’t going to work. Here are a few of my favorite places to look for costume pieces on the cheap:

1. Thrift stores – This is an obvious place to begin. Lots of folks head to thrift stores first in the pursuit of costumey fabulousness, but few have the skills and techniques to achieve true thrift success. Here are few tips to get you started:
   1. You must be tenacious. Thrift searching must become a regular endeavor in order to snag the best finds. Don’t overlook smaller church thrift stores or giant thrift warehouses! There are more thrift stores out there than the Goodwills and Salvation Armies, so do your research in your town. Also be on the lookout for thrift stores when you’re traveling – particular the random, tiny ones (where you’ll usually find the best stuff for the cheapest!).
   2. I always go through the accessories first, as the finds can be better (and less time consuming) in those departments and can inform the direction of my costume.
   3. Be on the lookout for vintage clothing at thrift stores – vintage pieces will be a tiny fraction of the prices they would be at actual “Vintage Stores” (which are also fabulous, but not always cheap).
   4. Finally, don’t overlook pieces that might be cut apart and used for fabric or trim – I once crafted an entire Naughty Elf costume out of black leather cut from a skirt that a friend of mine had bought at a thrift store for $4. It was a very big skirt, of course.

2. The clearance sections of popular stores – No joke! You can even shop at such stores’ online outposts. You can’t try things on when you order them online, but sale sections are less picked over (and you don’t have to step into a soul-sucking mall to begin with – hooray!) I have found awesome deals on really cool costume pieces at stores like Forever 21, Rainbow, American Apparel, and more. Channel your inner teenager and head to the mall. Go with a sense of purpose, and you might be shocked at what you find!

3. Ebay– Ebay is great for secondhand pieces and with frequent searching, you might get lucky on the price. Think of keywords for what you are looking for – design, color, size, etc. If you have a fairly clear idea about what you are looking for, you’re more likely to find it. Like in-person secondhand shopping, tenacity is key, so search frequently. You can even set up a feed on your Ebay account home page to show you the newest items listed in keywords you are interested in. Near the end of this article I’ll go over some tips to maximize your success with Ebay, so hang in there.

Customizing your new costume

Don’t forget that thrifted or otherwise-cheaply-found pieces can be customized to become even more special. You don’t need to even know how to sew!

I like to bring the costume piece in question (sometimes it’s even an old piece I own that needs a little extra love) to the craft or fabric store and hunt for lovely embellishments – lace, fringe, crystals, decorative charms – you’ll be surprised at what you’ll find. If you don’t know how to hand or machine sew, use a durable fabric glue (use less than you think you need to avoid a mess) and hand wash the final piece!

I like to shop for embellishments at…

1. Michael’s Craft Stores – All craft stores are great sources for costumey odds and ends, but Michael’s usually has the best sales and coupons in the paper (coupons, remember those? Learn to love them!) Absolutely never buy anything full-priced at Michael’s – wait a week, two at the most, and what you need will be 40% off. Always. This is why starting your search early will work in your budget’s favor. Here are a few of my favorite items to be on the lookout for:
   1. Swarovski crystals – These go on sale every other week, especially since the store carries multiple brands. These are an indispensable part of my costume makeup. You’ll find lots of colors, and they will be so cheap that you can afford to drop them on your bathroom floor, never to be found again.
   2. Craft glitter – Also indispensable for costumey makeup (although cosmetic-grade glitter is better for around the eye). When I was in high school I wore glitter-encrusted eyelids on a regular basis, to class! I still do this on rainy, dreary days.
   3. Dramatic charms and pendants, weird medallions, and the like – The most you will ever pay for these is a fiver. Michael’s even carries steampunk-inspired pieces, who knew?

2. The dollar store – I buy all of my fake flowers that I wear in my hair at the dollar store. This was an amazing find because the flowers often get sacrificed to my fire props (yes, that means they aren’t technically fire safe), and they are not at all cheap at traditional craft stores (don’t buy everything at Michael’s, you hear?) My local Dollar Tree actually has a much better selection than Michael’s, adding to the glory.

3. Ebay (again!) – Ebay is great to find supplies to decorate costumes and props, particularly when a large quantity is needed or time is of the essence. A lot of 10,000 Swarovski crystals? 100 white ostrich feathers? You get the idea. Ebay can be a particularly fickle mistress, so here are a few tips to help maximize your success!
   1. Look for listings under the “Buy it Now” heading. I find the actual bidding process to be frustrating and challenging to my memory, so I prefer to avoid it altogether. In the case of supplies, I am usually buying a larger quantity, so I am still getting a good deal. Sometimes items actually end up being more expensive if you bid instead of buying right away!
   2. If you are bidding, don’t bother doing so until the last minute. This is a little riskier, but you aren’t increasing the price (potentially for yourself if you are the item’s winner) with each bid if you only bid near the end of the listing. I hear there are online services that do this for you automatically, but I’ve never tried them.
   3. Be on the lookout for misspelled listings. If items are misspelled, no one is able to find them. Which means fewer bidders overall. Which, of course, means cheaper goodies for you because someone failed spelling in elementary school. For example, don’t just search “Swarovski crystals” – also search “Swavorski”, “Swarosky”, and “Swarovsky”. This is a good example, because without Spellcheck, I wouldn’t be able to spell “Swarovski” either!

I hope that you’ll be able to put some or all of these ideas to use in your costuming adventures. While it’s certainly easy to commission a specialty costume piece (from an experienced costume designer like myself, cough cough!) and pay for the privilege, you’ll be shocked at what you can do with a little creativity, time, and a tight budget. Go ahead – surprise yourself! Good luck![/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]