Womens Costumes

From the earliest days of theater, women were not allowed to perform on stage. Yes, they could watch and probably helped with the designing and making of the customs. Likewise, during Shakespeare's time, the female leads were played by young men. Finally, in the 1660s, Charles II allowed women to take the stage as actresses.

The reaction was mostly positive until it came out that many of the actresses were using the stage as a meeting place for connections to wealthy "gentlemen". Two of the most famous were Nell Gwyn and Elizabeth Barry, who also gained a reputation as a great actress.

Despite the public's eventual acceptance of actresses, the women never achieved the status and salary of their male counterparts. One of the few women who made the transition from actress to playwright was Charlotte Charke, who wrote three plays. Nevertheless, during the late 1600s and 1700s, women wrote comedies and tragic comedies in England. Two of the most well known are Aphra Behn and Susanna Centlivre. In addition, several women managed theaters and exerted considerable influence as playgoers.

Women helped change the amount and type of theater that was produced by the late 1800s. Women made up the majority of theater goers, and young women started a trend of attending afternoon matinees unescorted, which affected the content of the plays.The US census for 1870 and 1880 shows that the number of women who declared themselves as actresses increased by nearly 600%. As a result of the surge of women involved with theater, women obtained new social power and independence. The stars would receive an excellent salary for the times, but the supporting players made about 10% of that. Featured stars were expected to provide their own costumes as well which was particularly expensive for actresses because reviewers often critiqued, not only the play and acting, but the wardrobe as well.

Women sometimes use a lot of things to help express themselves. They use external sources of change like makeup to add color, salicylic acid acne treatments to clear the skin, and bath oil to soften the skin and make it smell fresh. However they also use things like their occupations like insurance broker jobs, general insurance jobs, or become teacher.

Sometimes however, it is nice to just be another person entirely and to take people on that fantasy with you. That's were the theater comes into play. When an actress puts on a costume she can become a completely different person for awhile. The quality of the costume may help or harm the audience's ability to really believe in that character and be able to get caught up in the story line. If you are supposed to be playing someone with a medical coding salary or someone who has 401k max contribution you probably are not going to have outfits that look like pajamas. Unless of course the play is a comedy and then the costumes can add to the humor by playing with the costumes and our expectations of what they should be. Costumes help create a world of our imagination. So let us help you find the right ones to bring your inner world to life today.