"If someone can draw it, I can make it" – our November talk, by theatrical costumier Laura Holland
It wasn't a conventional start. Academically-inclined, in an ambitious school, Laura Holland was steered away from needlework towards a classics degree. She went on to work in business.
But she was a competent needlewoman, making her own clothes. She left business to put herself through a costume course at London College of Fashion, at 30, without a needlework A level. Tutor Willie Burt gave Laura a chance. She learned how to cut and make costume, mask-making, corsetry, hats, 3D, photography, soft tailoring, dyeing, breaking down – everything that goes into a costume. The idea was that if you were posted to a remote theatre, you could do everything.
In her second year, she had to do work experience. She wrote to the big theatres. Nothing. So she made peasant blouses for a Cambridge theatre. A call came from the National Theatre. They had Judi Dench in a scene where her character cut up velvet on set. Laura's job was to piece it back together and overlock it. Laura expected to hear no more, worked on her final college piece, a Spanish court dress (pictured top). Then another call from the National Theatre, a few days' work a week and enough contacts to keep her in work for 28 years, at a number of theatres.
Willie Burt, to whom Laura owed a huge debt of gratitude, died of AIDS in 1994. Laura was told that she was his legacy.
We heard about the process: the theatre calls, says there's a costume to make and explains what it's like. They want a quote, then the measurements and the design come in for the cloth. Laura cuts the pattern, using an existing block (cutout shape of the actor) or making a new one. For eight to ten costumes in a show, there are often eight makers; Phantom of the Opera had one designer and over 300 makers.
Making costumes is like couture, 30% of it by hand. Most people are freelance, most theatres, and Angel's, have a workroom or workrooms for male and female costumes, some male staff ex Savile Row. Theatres' costume departments are at the top of the building so costumes have to be carried high – though three recent theatres have been built without costume departments.
Costumes are made with only a little wearing ease, though more allowance is made for physical performances. A lot of actors are interested in costume because it helps them with their character. Once used, costumes are reused, stored, altered, donated or recycled. Laura wondered what had happened to the shirts she had made for Regent's Park Theatre – then saw them on a washing line in Merry Wives of Windsor.
Laura passed around pictures of her work. There was a question about working with vague designs – Laura replied that she had had designs on the back of an envelope. Some designers like things to evolve. There are transformations: Laura prides herself on having made a man pregnant for a production short of women.
How much freedom does she have with a design? She did once design a leather jacket for a production but it's the part of the process after designers hand over that she finds most interesting.
Laura specialised in shirts for a while, in demand because of her finishing. She would be sent a bolt of linen. A question the origin of 'bolt' got a guess: that it was to do with the lead seals attached for bonded warehouses.
What sewing machine does Laura use? A Bernina 1090, a 1080 and a knee lift for the needle.
Is an actor ever unhappy? If the designer and director are happy, that's it – but designers can have their own exacting standards.
Does Laura get tickets? To dress rehearsals, yes but not the performance itself.
The best paid work is alterations, at £12-15 per hour. Making is £8-10 per hour. Film is better-paid but with long hours. Laura has also done TV work, a couple of ads, even documentaries for a friend who went on to do Egyptology. She got a call from Butlins to make costumes for Redcoats. Pantomime dames sometimes supply their own costumes, or only the main pantomime costumes are worked on.
What is Laura's favourite costume to make? Corsets, for dramatic effect. Most of her work is on period costume – she has enjoyed a recent job making Roman costumes for kids performing in the Roman theatre at the Guildhall.
Costume is a tough career – you're only as good as your last job. Contacts fell through during the Pandemic and Laura's work included wedding dress alterations, a common segue from costume. Now, Laura teaches on Saturdays and works on commissions.
Regrets? Laura did consider having her own workroom but making costumes for a tour of Riverdance that involved getting in people felt like being in the City.
Even Laura's outfit for the evening was her work, the jacket made from four pashminas, the skirt knitted on waits in journeys.
A big East End WI thank-you to Laura for a fascinating talk. Find out more about her work here. (The logo on the website is by Lydia.)
Thanks also to Nigel Macmillan at Ayoka Charity Shop for lending us a mannequin for the talk.
Monthly meet-up for coffee: Friday 28th November, meet at 10.30 - 11.00, Oxford House Café
Derbyshire Street, Bethnal Green E2 6HG. Oxford House is accessible and like St Margaret's House, was founded as a settlement.
