Live Role Play - Renting a Costume
in
I thought I would share some of my experiences renting, with
recommendations of places to try and to avoid. I did a lot of
investigation prior to ToF, and found out some things
I think are
worthy of a larger audience, and some, like the NT are worth playing
with if you are interested in frockage regardless of
what you are
looking to rent.
If you are not in
to start is the British Costume Association, the Organisation
for
Fancy Dress and Theatrical Costume Suppliers. Their website has a
feature enabling you to find a costumer near you -
http://www.incostume.co.uk/public.htm
This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, and I
definitely focus on
order of price/features. As a rule, better costumes means more money,
but not always, and full details are in the text.
A reasonable place to start is the
South London Theatre: http://www.southlondontheatre.co.uk/costume.php
This is an amateur dramatic society located near the
railway station. Visiting their costume racks is a lottery. They have
a mixed range of odd stuff on the racks. They may well have exactly
what you need in your size, they might not. It all depends on what
shows they have run before, and what size those actors were. They are
open on TUESDAY NIGHTS ONLY and are staffed by volunteers. They rent
by the week and they are VERY inexpensive (say £12). You will want
you to pay by cheque if you rent from them, and they
will take two
cheques, one as a deposit. They are well worth
checking out, as if
they have what you want it's great, and very cheap, and if not, you
are not out much.
Escapade: http://www.escapade.co.uk/
This is on
one of the cheaper of the fully professional hire places I found in
central
SLT. You can see pictures of all of their costumes on line, but they
have (as a rule), one of each. So, for example, if you see that you
like say the Victorian Brown suit (E96), they have one of those (38-42
chest). If you fit it, great, if not, pity. The shop does have a
wide range of costume accesssories, hats, badges,
wigs canes, etc.
ranging from the outragously tacky to the merely
mildly tacky. It was
hear that I found a Deputy Sherrif's badge for Jon Cloutman for
appalachian wedding after he
complained that he could find sherrif's
badges everywhere, but no deputy badges.
Masquerade:
their average costume hire is £20, but every time I called them there
was no answer. Maybe they were on holiday that time of year, I don't
know.
The Carnival Store: http://www.carnivalstore.co.uk/homepage.html
This is on Hammersmith road and is between
Kensington,
really are more of a fancy dress shop than a historical costume
supplier, but they have a decent range and you can see much of it on
the web. Similar to Escapade in many ways, but with a
a bit wider
stock and a bit more expensive.
Permode: http://www.permode.co.uk/main.html
Permode is on
reasonable reputation, but this is the only central
I have never visited, so I cannot really comment. They are in here
for completeness really.
Mad World: http://www.madworld-fancy-dress.co.uk/index.htm
This is one of the largest fancy dress outfits in
large stores, one on Grey's
other near
Corporate Fancy Dress Party. They are ideal if you need a Santa
Outfit, a Bunny Rabbit suit, a stereotypical pirate outfit, etc.
Their costumes are not particularly period-accurate, and they are not
particularly cheap (say £85). On the positive side, they will be able
to get you a costume, on no or short notice, and the
staff there do
understand and appreciate period costume, even if they cannot rent you
one. I was quite struck by the way in which the costume assistants
there went out of their way to attempt to fake the correct look. On
the positive side, they rent by the Costume, not by the piece. So if
you need a cane, cloak, change of shirt (say for a weekend long
freeform), they will not charge extra. Nonetheless, for what they
charge, I felt strongly that one can do better in
Angels: http://www.angels.uk.com/
Angels advertises itself as "The largest and most comprehensive
costume company in the world". Founded in 1840, it specialises in
Professional costuming. They have a 150,000 square foot warehouse in
Hendon that contains almost any article of costume that you can
imagine. You are not allowed to go there. Their main business is
the
costuming of films, and they have supplied costumes to Master and
Commander, Gangs of
Corelli's Mandolin, The Mummy Returns, Titanic,
Shakespeare in Love,
Harry Potter, and others. I repeat, you are not allowed to go to Hendon.
You are allowed to go to Angel's Fancy Dress
(http://www.fancydress.com)
which is located at
just off
absolutely have to be in no later than
Renting here is an experience. You will be assigned a dresser, who
will bring you various garments, and make suggestions as to the way to
wear various items. Allow yourself lots of time. For something that
needs to be right, they can and will order stock from their Hendon
warehouse (which takes several days to show up). So if you elect to
rent from Angels, you may wish more than one fitting, but you will get
something that is as period-accurate as possible. This is another
outfit that will hire by the costume, not by the piece, so if you need
flourishes like opera capes, etc. they are all included in the price
(which is about £95). This is dear (though not much dearer than the
vastly inferior madworld), but the quality is superb,
and the two
dressers that I met there were both extremely expert. By the way,
trying on a costume with a dresser is an experience in itself. I
would recommend Angels, but they are expensive. Even if you are not
planning to rent, this is a useful place to window shop.
The Royal National Theatre: http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=2127
Now this is a place that is frockage
heaven. The The Royal
National
Theatre costume department make costumes for the roughly twenty plays
a year that are put on by the NT. After the show, the costumes go to
the costume racks where they are frequently rented by everyone from
school groups to films (costumes were supplied to Braveheart,
Rob Roy,
The Madness of King George, King Lear (BBC), Jude, The Crucible, and
others). They do rent to individuals, but you need to make an
appointment to go and see them. They are open by appointment Monday
to Friday
Theatre is, well its not there. Rather it is at their workshops on
them that you wish to rent for a corporate or private function and
make and appointment. When you get there, you will be shown into the
racks, be given a 5 minute introduction, and that's it. You are left
loose in the costume racks to explore. They have everything from
ancient egyptian to science fiction largely arranged
chronologically,
and you can try on whatever you want. It is frockage
heaven. Some of
the interior pieces (such as waistcoats) were clearly designed for
theatrical use, with a highly elaborate and decorated front, and a
much plainer (or almost nonexistant) back.
There is an astonishing
range here, though it must be noted that they rent per piece. So to
rent one shirt is £5, two shirts is £10 , a frockcoat
is £30-35 and so
on. Expect to pay roughly £95 for a full victorian outfit, but when
you add opera capes, and costume changes this will be more expensive
than even Angels. The fact that they rent per piece however can work
to your advantage. If you have most of an outfit, but are short the
right hat, or the right cape, or just that trimming that will make the
outfit soar, then this can be a very effective and not all that
expensive option to add the right flourishes. One last point relates
to their rental process. Spend the day picking the items you want and
take them in to the little office there. They will examine the items
and then NOT give you a final quote NOR allow you to take them away.
Rather they will begin a one-two day paperwork proces
that will result
in a final quote roughly 24 hours after you have selected the items,
and then you need to make a second trip down there to pick them up.
Sigh. But a day in the Wardrobe racks really is frockage
heaven.
Courtesy of Michael Colao,
Friday, February 13, 2004