I've decided to use this space to share my experience as a costume shop intern at an Orlando theatre. I will be here for a little over two months, and will document my life as an intern, and as a stranger to this fun, beautiful city.
My two alarm clocks went off at 8:30AM, startling me into a fresh morning full of hope. I had laid out my clothes the night before, a blue, white, and orange printed sun dress with draping butterfly earrings and my clear fossil watch. I had painted my nails a "nude" color the night before, and wasn't surprised to see patterns from my blanket on the surface of my nails--- i never fail to mess my manicures up. I decided on an orange-redish lipstick because lipsticks are my new thing, and threw some coconut oil on my hair. I was wearing a two- day messy twist- out on my newly natural hair, and spent too much time in the morning pulling apart my tiny coils.
I was feeling like a grown- up, so I made my bed and had breakfast...two things I never do. I double checked on the directions before briefly speaking with my apartment- mate and heading out the door.
After about a 24 minute drive, I made it to my internship.
I waited in the main lobby until the internship coordinator came to get me, and proceeded to take an extensive tour of the huge facility. Needless to say, I was quite impressed with the sheer size of the place, not to mention the costume stock that was available. They had everything perfectly labeled, from Santa fat suits to red Pippy Longstocking wigs, to Willy Wonka goggles. I learned the ins and outs of the building, and even got an overview of the surrounding area and best places to take my lunch break.
The day was pretty slow because the 70+ middle school- aged kids who will be in the performance of this year's Hairspray hadn't yet arrived. The costume designers and coordinators were still in the process of determining a budget to present and finding the cheapest prices. I was impressed with the budget they had intended to stick to, and the calmness that they seemed to have when discussing topics such as the 150+ wigs that would have to be found somewhere for the actors and actresses to wear. This will be my largest production so far, and I have NEVER worked with kids. I'm sure my patience will have to be at an all- time high.
I sat threw a brief orientation where all of the staff members and interns came together to introduce ourselves over free bagels and coffee, then returned to the costume shop.
Most of my day was spent looking through the collection of existing wigs to see which could be bumped up and hairsprayed into a perfectly coiffed '60s do. I picked through, sometimes grimy, yet all fascinating wigs and hairpieces, and found some good ones that would help to save some money. All of the wigs were stored in separate plastic bags, yet some didn't have pictures to identify their style. I spent a good amount of time taking pictures, printing out, and cutting pictures to fit the front of plastic bags that corresponded with particular wigs. Not the hardest of jobs, but not quite busy work.
Our lunch was taken at about 1:00pm, and we went to Tijuana Flats. The internship coordinator is getting married this weekend, so her last day for a while will be tomorrow. The interns and costume shop personnel all celebrated her upcoming wedding with mexican food. No complaints here.
I have no idea what tomorrow's plans are, but I'm excited to get into the real sewing and construction. I haven't constructed a garment in a while, so I'll be spending my nights with my Basic Sewing For Costume Construction: A Handbook that I put together a few years ago. It has every hand and machine stitch I could possibly need, and examples of each one that I had previously mastered. This way, I won't feel completely overwhelmed when the 70 kids are in my face asking for costumes.
first day complete!
