What place for costumers in pandemic?

 

Me heading out to drop off masks for a neighbor.

I've spent the past week sewing more masks--for colleagues, friends, neighbors, and the local homeless population--but I've also spent it reflecting upon my profession of costumer and what place is there for us in the pandemic-afflicted world.

Literally no one is working as a professional costumer right now. Broadway is dark, theatres are closed, Hollywood studios are shuttered. No one is going to theme parks or on cruises. No one is dressing up in Star Wars costumes for DragonCon because there are no conventions in the forseeable future. No one needs new garb for the Renaissance faire season, and no one is cheering the antics of their team's mascot at a sporting event. Every summer Shakespeare festival or opera company has canceled their season. Jobs we thought we had lined up have vanished.

My entire profession disappeared overnight.

And yes, some day we will be able to safely gather together again, and when that time comes, people will be hungry for human interaction. Broadway will reopen, possibly bigger than ever because we've all been bingeing film and TV alone at home for so long that the idea of watching other people right there in the room with you act out a story will make us feel like we're living in a miracle.

All these hours sewing masks has given me a lot of time to think, to consider how I will pivot and to what, in order to continue to earn a living and to contribute what I can. The difference between last week and this week is, sewing these masks has moved from a charitable act to a viable income stream and that's something I'm going to need as soon as this semester ends.

In a world where we all must cover our faces whenever we leave the house, masks are going to morph beyond utilitarian. People will begin to want a wardrobe of masks, masks which cover their nose and mouth, sure, but which also express their personality and sense of style. So i guess I think, as long as this pandemic forces isolation, quarantine, and social distancing on humanity as a whole, no, there are no more professional costumers. But I have hope that I'll see a time when my profession returns.

Until then, i'm making masks, wearing masks, and thinking about aesthetic yet functional mask design.

 

A set of five masks for fellow company members at PlayMakers