Intro and Captions by Hannah Murphy Winter

Just a few steps from the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s stage, sits an ordinary office building filled with extraordinary people: One who specializes in custom stockings, another who is a dye expert, one who’s deeply knowledgeable about period gowns, and another about tiaras. This is the Ballet’s costume department, and this fall, they’re taking on the company’s biggest show ever: A brand new production of Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty.

The set was designed by Native American glass artist Preston Singletary, the puppets come from famed puppeteer Basil Twist, and the costume design is directed by Paul Tazewell, who you may have heard of when he won a Tony for his work on Hamilton. This group of highly specialized artisans—90 so far—is tasked with taking all three of those artists’ dreams and turning them into a reality. We got to step behind the curtain and see that magic while it was still brewing.

When we arrived at the Pacific Northwest Ballet's costume department, they'd already been working on Sleeping Beauty for months. PNB is one of just a few ballet companies in the country that has an in-house costume team. Below the offices, you could hear dancers in rehearsal rooms. 
Meleta Buckstaff, the costume shop manager sits in front of just some of the department’s spools of thread. When we visited in the fall, the costume department was already besieged by the sheer volume of outfits. Clothing racks took over hallways, clogged personal offices and conference rooms, and nestled next to vending machines. 
Because the costumers work along side the dancers, they're able to watch each one, and make minor, vital adjustments to the costumes to complement the unique ways that they move. 
Tazewell delivered two giant three-ring binders, called Costume Bibles. Each page, like this one, has a sketch
and a series of fabric swatches. PNB's artisans use that bible to produce an entirely new world. 

Nova Dobrev (left) is the production’s rhinestone specialist—otherwise called a “stoner.” She approaches rhinestone placement as an extension of lighting design, because each stone placement determines how the light is reflected back to the audience. Ellis (right) handles one of the royal robes in the production. Several elements in the production's design nod to Preston Singletary's work, and Pacific Northwest indigenous art. 

Mark Zappone was a member of the PNB's costume team in the in '80s, and has since built a celebrated independent costume studio. Zappone was one of the studios (and the 90 hands) that helped build out this production. Here, he's holding one of Carabosse's wings. 
Many of the costumes are cast in shades of blue and teal, but the designers were careful to make sure that it doesn't appear like a mass of one hue. The costumes run a range of blues, just different enough to make the stage dynamic. 
Night by night, the costumes can be worn by different dancers. To make sure the nude tones match the dancers' skin, each piece can swap out the nude straps. 

 

Dye expert Wyly Astley hand-dyed virtually every piece of fabric in the production, custom matching each swatch to the costume bible.
Erik Andor worked with Basil Twist—the New York-based puppeteer best known for his underwater puppet show, "Symphonie Fantastique"—to create his vision for Sleeping Beauty's puppets. Here he is with all of the replacement tails for the production's rodents. 
Andor created a swarm of scurrying rodents by working with a bicycle fabricator. The puppeteers wear one on their head, another on one hand, and the other hand operates a metal wheel with several more rats cycling through. Andor often adds a golden tooth to his puppets—keep an eye out onstage. 
Andor also designed the crowns that the ballet's royalty wear. He wanted the crowns in the production to be a nod to Preston Singletary’s glasswork, but it's essential that the costume pieces be both durable and lightweight. To make that happen, the crowns are made of resin and PVC.Â