Final Exhibition Oct 16-17

After the photo-shoot, it seems almost like a let-down to write a post about the exhibition. However, it WAS a major event in the life of us as costume students, so for the record...

It was also lots of fun. Many people came - family and friends, people in the theatre industry, passing tourists off the street. There was much oohing and aahing, many compliments, a great deal of interest and amazement.

First of all, we transformed the sewing studio from this:

into this:

Alex: funky as always

Emily: lots of bows and other detail

Jess: quiet elegance

Alice: splashes of colour

Kaz: lots of sparkle and pizzaz

Sofia: understated excellence

Minnie: lots of information on process

It was interesting to see how each display confirmed the person whom we had gotten to know during the 15 weeks.

Once the displays were up, and we were all dressed in our 30s gowns (both to add the the festive air, and because there aren't enough mannequins for everyone to have four), Pauline broke out the champagne for a toast to our success. I was delighted that Wendy and David Brooks, my landlady and landlord for fifteen weeks, were able to come:

My display was heavy on information, particularly about process - "working with velvet", "why pouf pants are poufy", "how much steel goes into a corset", that kind of thing. A number of visitors remarked positively on that aspect, and many asked questions.

In addition, taped across my window was the huge map of Canada Pauline had bought because two of us were from Canada this year:

I figured people would notice my accent and ask - which indeed they did. Interest in Canada was high among the visitors; those who had been, or had connections, enjoyed locating on that big map places they knew of. All marvelled at the size of the country. A few lingered, imagining with some longing that kind of space, asking about the geography. As I remain a Canadian geography enthusiast, it's likely that I generated a number of future tourist visits!

At the end of the exhibition, Saturday at 4:30, we packed up and restored the studio to readiness for the next course, which starts in January. Many hands made light work, it took about an hour. And I'm pleased to report that all my costumes fit into my duffle bag, no problem.