Costume Interview

For my video, I decided to interview a bunch of UNCG students about what they were wearing and how they thought people saw them based on their clothing. A character's costume has to depict their personality, their relationships to other characters, and other traits. For most college students, they don't realize that their everyday clothing says something about their personality or character, when in reality, it's usually the first thing we notice about people. "Dressing to Impress" makes a good first impression because it says you care about your appearance and therefore yourself. And how often do we describe other people not by what they actually look like, but by what they are wearing at that moment? Whether you want it to or not, clothing defines you.

Here's the text from one interview:

Me: What are you wearing today?

Spencer: I am wearing this t-shirt, which says "Some Kids R Gay. That's OK." and I'm wearing a pair of black shorts with a little bit of color on them and a pair of flip-flops.

Me: Why are you wearing this outfit today?

Spencer: Most importantly, because it was clean. Secondly, because I think it's important and supports gay people, and it goes well together. And it's comfortable.

Me: What do you think this outfit says about you? Like how do you think people see you based on what you're wearing?

Spencer: I think I've attracted more stares today than I usually do because I generally don't wear things that say things that are possibly controversial. So I think people one, probably see me as homosexual, I would assume, even though I would be totally fine with a straight person wearing this shirt. I don't think you have to be gay to wear this shirt. And i think...probably people see me as gay and therefore have whatever opinion they have on that, whether it's a good thing or a bad thing. I've gotten both today. I've heard "I like your shirt" and I've had really nasty stares as well.

Costume Interview

Ah, Wilderness! Action Chart

Research Images Link

Costume Examples

Differences in Silhouette

The women will be in flowing skirts with gauzy, billowing sleeves, allowing them to float around the men. The older women will be dressed in shirtwaists and sensible skirts, and will have less embellishment, as they are more mature and less prone to flights of fancy. Lily will be more straight-laced in a no-frills shirtwaist, showing her up-tight and unforgiving nature, while Essie will be more homey and welcoming with a few bits of lace on the sleeves and neckline. The younger women will be in a more free-flowing, empire silhouette with lots of gauze and silk crepe. The costume should float with their movement, depicting their innocent and fanciful natures.

The men will be in sharp, tailored suits with a solid line, making them more stable and solid. Arthur will be dressed in more of the collegiate fashion, with a cardigan and newsboy cap, giving a more relaxed feel to the costume line. Richard is more up tight and pretentious, so he will try his hardest to dress maturely. His suits will be as well-tailored as the older men’s suits, but will be cut slightly bigger, giving him the look of a boy who hasn’t quite grown into himself.

Typical Early 20th Century Silhouettes

The male silhouette for 1906 consisted of sack suits with varying styles of collars and ties. For more formal occasions, the cut away suit might be seen, with knickers and a Norfolk jacket for sporting. During the day, black pinstriped pants were worn, with dark browns, blacks, grays, and navy blues worn during the rest of the evening. Fabrics were mainly tweeds and homespuns for sack suits and Norfolk jackets, as well as flannel, linen, duck, and seersuckers. Pointed ankle boots were worn as footwear, sometimes with spats covering them. Collegiate men might wear a cardigan sweater and cap over their shirt and pants. Other hats could be as well, like the fedora, bowler, Panama hat, or the straw boater.



The typical female silhouette from 1900 to 1920 changed dramatically. The main silhouette for the early 1900s was the s-curve. The monobosom corset was worn to push the torso forward, while the fullness at the back of the skirts added to the effect. Deflated leg-of-mutton sleeves from the 1890s turned into bishop sleeves with the fullness around the wrists. Shirtwaist blouses or Gibson girl blouses were worn with full darker skirts with brighter contrasting sashes at the waist, while the hair was pinned in a bouffant style to give the popular “Gibson Girl” look. Women’s clothes used softer gauzes, laces without sizing, silk charmeuse, china silks, batiste, silk crepe, silk velvet, and georgette crepe in softer, floral colors. Shoes worn were French-heeled pumps decorated at the front of the shoes.

These differences in silhouettes and textures provide an interesting contrast in costuming for each character. The men in darker blues and rougher homespun fabrics will stand out against the women in their softer whites and yellows in crepes and silks. The women will have a flowing, gauzy silhouette while the men will have a sharper, more tailored silhouette. These silhouettes harmonize with each other as the men provide a solid backdrop on which to present the women.

Ah, Wilderness! Revised Concept Concept

Ah, Wilderness! by playwright Eugene O’Neill explores the naïveté of middle-class society in turn-of-the-century America by placing a series of relationships between family members and lovers in an idyllic Victorian world of propriety. Instead of dealing with and talking about the issues of drunkenness, gambling and rebellion, the family chooses to ignore their problems and believe in the best in everybody. When the young lovers experience their first major altercation, the young man turns to alcohol and loose women to deal with his rejection, leading to his temporary fall from grace.

The costumes reflect turn-of-the-century Victorian ideals of innocence as well as the separation between genders. In Victorian society, the men were expected to be stolid and sedate, while the women fluttered around them like gilded butterflies. The men are the solemn heads of the household and make all the decisions, while the women are innocent and “fluffy”, like pieces of chiffon. To reflect this contrast between gender roles, the split complementary color system of blue, yellow, and red-violet will be used. The older men are calm and stoic in their dark navy suits, with the younger men, especially Richard, in lighter ocean blues. Richard’s costume stands out from the rest of the men’s by incorporating touches of rich chestnut brown. Tommy, the youngest, is in white with touches of light baby blue. The men’s costumes have a sharp, tailored and structured line to give them the appearance of solidity.

The older women are painted in darker yellows, with the younger women in white frilly dresses with pops of bright yellow. The chiffon and lightweight cotton dresses float with their movement and give them an airy quality. The line for the women is flowing and curved, like the waves in loose hair. In the second act, Belle is dressed in black and red-violet, making her completely separate from the “innocent” ideals held by the rest of the women. The costumes should reflect the separation between the genders as well as depict the age differences between characters.