Kiralyn Davison Mathew Seckman Daniel Townsend
(KALEIDOSCOPE FALL 2 0 0 5)
Creating Kimonos for Madama Butterfly
Bob Haven, assistant professor of costume technology, (and three of his student assistants, Daniel Townsend, Kiralyn Davison, and Matt Seckman, participated in a project to outfit the cast of Madama Butterfly for the UK Opera Theatre. Over a period of eight months, we learned the traditional methods of constructing Japanese costumes for the stage. We soon learned that when constructing the 19th century Japanese kimonos, familiarity with Western costume construction was put to the side.
While the 200 pieces that were made for the show appear simple enough, the eight month construction process included learning new patterning and sewing techniques to achieve the look of authentic designs. Because the available research on kimono construc¬tion is limited and materials for constructing stage-worthy Japanese costumes is virtually non-existent, the costumers basically started from Professor Haven's re¬search and then went on to developed their own techniques along the way — finding easier shortcuts that achieved the same design.
The first difference was in the fabric itself. Japanese kimono silk comes in 14 3/4-inch wide strips. The proportion of the classical kimono is achieved by combining four widths of this fabric, one for each side of the body and one for each sleeve. While the majority of the fabric for the production was bought locally, the Western standard is 45-inch wide bolts. To maintain the authentic proportion and design, the costumers added a seam down the back. As with the classical kimono, the garments for this production were constructed of seven rectangles of fabric.
While sewing the kimonos together was a simple step, much hand stitching was needed to align the various layers in preparation for the machine work.
When buying the fabric, bright colors with intricate designs were used for the geishas, while more modest patterns and subdued colors were chosen for older and married women. The length of the sleeve is also indicative of age and station. Geisha would wear very long sleeves as well as large obi bows with long tails. Both the sleeves and the obi bow tails would ere ate graceful and pleasing motion with every movemen of the Geisha, no matter how subtle and controlled might be. Older and married women would wear ki monos with shorter, less flamboyant sleeves present ing a more refined and dignified appearance.
Kiralyn Davison graduated from UK with a degree in English Education.
Mathew Seckman is a 2005 UK graduate with a major in Theatre and Arts Administration.
Daniel Townsend is a 2005 UK Theatre graduate with a major in design and technology. He is currently pursuing an MFA in Hair and Make Up at the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati.
Mentor:
Bob Haven, Assistant Professor of Costume
Technology,
Department of Theatre
I oversee the construction of costumes for UK theatre productions and teach a variety of costume technology courses including Make Up, Costume Construc-tion, Millinery and Pattern Drafting and Draping. With the patterning and construction of Japanese costumes for the stage as the thrust of my research, the Madama Butterfly project presented an unparalleled opportunity to test the drafting and construction directions with undergraduates. Kiralyn Davison, Matt Seckman, and Daniel Townsend worked from those directions to complete the building of the kimonos. Likewise, students from my Costume Construction classes also participated by building obis and the underwear units. Daniel developed the techniques for creating the wigs after some initial discussion about how traditional kabuki and Geisha wigs are constructed. The results of all the student's work was both astounding and gratifying.
