Life of a Costume
We make our costumes in-house, and have for almost 150 years.
From first sketch by our costumers & designers, our costumes have always been crafted for the stage. Today we’re creating a huge range of sizes in our stock, expanding styles and colors that compliment all actors, and refreshing shows with new deisgns & staying true to what makes a Norcostco original special. Check out our process below to see how our costumes are made and cared for.
Costumes play a critical role in establishing time, setting, and mood in a scene. Our costumes are designed to be historically accurate, command stage presence, be weathered if the scene needs it, and come with the embellishments and accessories that complete the look for the character and your production.
It starts with a vision and drawings.
Norcostco costumes are designed by a theater professional who creates for the stage. It starts with sketches, selecting fabrics, and giving the piece its vision.
We create our patterns & cut the samples.
Sometimes we pull from patterns of past projects, others inspired by real garments worn throughout eras and cultures. We test the patterns and sew our samples in-house. We’ll iterate until we’re happy & confident that you will be too.
We take pride in grading our garments across a range of sizes, so that all people can enjoy our costumes. Every person in your production should feel amazing when they perform.
We cut & sew the batch, and finally meet our costumes.
The fabric is cut and brought to our sewing team. The batch is then sewn together with care. Keeping this process in-house means we spare no detail, and the costume will be fitted with any finer finishes, flair & embellishments.
Ready for the stage.
Once a costume is rented for your production, it will be altered to create a perfect match for the actor. Then it's the easy part. Enjoy the experience of Norcostco costumes and acting in garments that help all peoples feel confident and amazing. Your production is about to be worthy of a standing-ovation, no matter the scale.
We go against the currents of ‘fast-fashion’ & cost-cutting and design our costumes for a long life. When you return costumes, they will be laundered or dry-cleaned & carefully returned to its rack with our other costumes. Some of the best costumes will experience hundreds of performances over its life. Imagine the stories they have to tell.
