My first memory of costuming

"Gone with the Wind" by Li'd is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

I tend to feel that from day one I was meant to create, costume and sew, or at the very least construct things in some form. One of my favourite memories is actually of the first time I attempted to, let’s say, construct a garment (of sorts) & strangely enough it involved me trying to recreate a historical garment, little did I know the passion this simple task would spark.

This first memory I blame completely and utterly on my father. His favourite film of all time was Gone With The Wind. Dad was born in 1931 and GWTW was released in Australia in 1940 (1939 in the US) so He was only a small boy when he first saw the film and it absolutely captured his imagination. The film was released at the end of the Great Depression and at a time when the world was staring down the barrel of yet another world war (WWII). It was a time when people most needed to escape and feel like there was hope, as Scarlet’s final line in the film identifies -

“After all, Tomorrow is another day”

I wonder if this epic and extravagant tale of resilience offered my Father and his parent’s generation that sense of hope. The sets and costumes where lavish and I can only begin to imagine what it would have been like for someone living in this era of economic depression and between 2 world wars to sit in a darkened theatre and disappear into Scarlet & Rhett’s world. This love story set against the backdrop of the America Civil War (1861 - 1865) would have seemed vaguely familiar to audiences as it strangely mirrored the devastation, destruction and rebuilding experienced by many after World War I (WWI). Even the excitement with which the southern gentlemen enlisted to fight truly believing it would be over by Christmas. Ashley Wilkes’ line just prior to war being declared is so telling…

“Most of the miseries of the world are caused by wars. When the wars were over, no one ever knew what they were about”

It was clearly an experience that stayed with my father because as soon as I was old enough to sit through this epic that's what we did, many times! I became utterly obsessed by Scarlet O'Hara, I wanted to be her, I practised the southern accent and that famous eyebrow raise in the mirror until I had it perfected. But something was missing? I needed the huge Antebellum skirts to complete the picture!

So at the tender age of nine or ten I start searching through the house, working out how to construct a crinoline cage and skirt. I decide to use wire coat hangers, pulled apart, taped together and shaped into hoops of differing sizes. I then use my grandmothers wool to string each hoop together and attach to a belt. Perfect! But what to use for a skirt? In what I thought was an absolute brainwave I decide to use my Grandmothers good white cotton bed sheets, tucked into the belt of the mock crinoline cage. Needless to say, when Nan found me in the back yard carrying on like the 'Southern Bell' I was sure I was meant to be, trailing her good sheets through the dirt... um... well... clearly, unlike Rhett Butler, Nan did "give a damn"!

Thankfully this small glitch didn't dampen my enthusiasm for historical costume and style! If anything it probably prompted me to learn more!