The Country Mice

As one of the staff members of the Princess’s new homeschooling department, yours truly deemed the time had arrived for an off-campus field trip.

(Two weeks on the job and I’m already bursting with bureaucracy!)

The UBC’s School of Music Opera program opened its doors to members of the Bowen Island Fibre Arts guild and allowed us to tour its costume department. What an amazing venue that is!

At present the opera students are preparing for a presentation of Cendrillon, the French version of Cinderella.

Check out the fairy godmother’s dress. Looks like something you’ve seen before?  Budgets are tight (as are the singers’ corsets) so some creative recycling is in order. In this case, a pouffy-sleeved sequined and pearled wedding dress. Ahhhhh, lovely.

Here’s some early planning of the garb for that ever-cranky stepmother — deliberately parodied to be grotesquely and humourously disproportionate.

Adding to the realism. (You can tell this is XXXXXXL, right?)

The costume room is one great big brainstorming session. Bits of fabric, sequins, feathers, ruffles are stashed and categorized for future dress-up possibilities.

The costume designers comb second-hand stores and catalogue their finds. A recently completed television series shot here in Vancouver donated all its outer space-style costumes which will be re-tooled for a future opera.

A great first cultural outing.

We’re thinking the next field trip should have a phys-ed component. A day of skiing, perhaps?