gwendolyngrace (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gwendolyngrace) wrote2011-02-15 07:55 pm
gwendolyngrace) wrote2011-02-15 07:55 pm
Retail Therapy!
Okay, so the show opens in (gulp) 10 days, and I go on as Vicki the following weekend. This means that although I technically have almost 2 weeks to settle my costumes, I actually *don't*, I have until Tuesday which will be the one dress rehearsal I get to do as Vicki.
However. The costumer has been very scattered and dismissive about finding things for me in that role with "that's not important" and "We have time" as the responses when I've tried to talk to him about it. He did finally start to understand that I was set for my Pam costumes but wanted to talk about the Vicki ones last night, but then I got cut off with, "That just doesn't compute right now; I just can't handle that right yet, there's too much else still to do."
Okay. Fair enough. But the reason I wanted to talk to him about it was that the other cast member who thought she might have dresses doesn't... and because I don't have rehearsal tonight, I knew I would have time to take the 1-hour drive to the Outlet Mall to go shopping.
When he finally realized that's what I was saying, he said: "Oh! Great! Go for it," although he still wouldn't go through the costume plot so I'm not quite sure what I need for a couple scenes. But the important part was that I knew I needed a flowy cocktail dress that I can cha-cha and tango in (including a kick), and that it couldn't be black. (I also need a red dress (which actually I started to talk to him about when we first talked costumes and - surprise! - he wasn't listening/hearing that I needed to be in red *as Vicki* in the same scene when I needed to be in red *as Pam*), but I have a red dress that fits and that will work for that scene. Not that I was opposed to buying one if I'd found the right thing....)
Anyway, the upshot is that I headed down to the outlets today with a short list of items that, if I found them, would be good for the show. Retail therapy, baby!
I looked around in a few shops and wasn't finding much in the way of dressy dresses. I did find a couple things in Dress Barn that would have worked, but not fabulous. Then I went across to BGCG Max Azaria, which usually is a joke in the malls because everything is for petite little girls and it's way overpriced, too. But no! They had a HUGE selection of dresses (gowns, too, but they were off-mission so I didn't indulge)... and they were having a major sale, Nearly all the dresses were about $49 (down from $$$ originally). And the saleswoman was teh awesome. Not only did she help me sweep the store - we had about 20 dresses for me to try on - but she put me in the "big" room so I'd have a lot of room to move around. And she organized the dresses by color group, including putting all the red dresses to one side - and in a couple cases, bringing two sizes when she knew a dress ran small or large. AND, if that weren't enough, she offered to bring me a few shoes to try with the dresses so I'd see the height and really get a sense of how they would move.
Well, a bunch of the dresses were gorgeous but not right for the character. Some of them didn't move well. Some of them were ridiculous on me. Some of them were strapless, which um, no, not when I'm dancing around. But two of them were pretty much perfect. And one was turquoise, has a beautiful flowy skirt, and was $29 (originally $108) and the other was royal blue, a halter top! (usually halters look like crap on me, but this one looks fabulous), has a little gold belt detail, and was $39 (originally $188). And better yet: they're jersey (and one has POCKETS), so they'll be easy to maintain! So I asked them to hold them both for me until the end of the day and went in search of something better. Hah. I cruised through about 10 other clothing stores and didn't even see anything worth trying on. I did buy a pretty nasty scarf at Talbot's for only $5, because it's perfect for Pam. I did not buy the $8 one since I wasn't sure the costumer would like it, even though it was nicer, but scarves aren't generally my thing. I certainly wasn't going to buy any of the $10-25 ones!
Also on my list of "possible" things were a couple different shoes - mainly something to go with whatever dress I wound up wearing, and possibly a pair of f*ck-me red pumps to go with the red outfits. Well, I found many pairs of f*ck-me red pumps but all of them FAR too expensive, especially since I don't know for sure it's necessary! Also, I tried on quite a few pairs of shoes at Aerosoles and didn't buy any, though I was really tempted by 2-3 pairs that would have been great for other parts of the show *and* for work (assuming I get back to work soon)... but they were just enough off-mission that I couldn't be sure they'd be right for the show and I wasn't certain (in one case) whether I would really wear them afterward. So despite the absolutely AWESOME sale, I left them ALL there. (Pats self on back for resistance to shoe temptation!)
However, when I went back to Max Azaria to pick up my dresses, I decided to get one of the pairs of shoes that I'd used for trying them on. They are slightly silver-gold sparkle over cream suede, peep-toe, slightly platformy slingbacks, so they're really sexy. I may or may not use them for the show (I'm not sure about dancing in them), but if I do there's at least two places where I can use them. And they were the "last pair" (cough, they actually had 2 pair), so they were also only $29... Call it a birthday present to myself. And Valentine's. Shut up, they're gorge. For one thing, the saleswomean was awesome and I wanted her to get the sale. For another, both dresses and the shoes were still just less than $100, which was how much I'd been willing to spend on a single dress, if necessary, to make sure I had something suitable. Now admittedly, I'd had the idea that I could give it to the theatre and get reimbursed, but...I don't think I'll actually do that. We'll see. (Er. Okay, maybe I didn't totally resist shoe temptation. But mostly!)
And then I went back to Dress Barn and bought a dress I wanted last year, that they had back again, and a blouse, which was off-mission but fuck it. I had a coupon for the dress. Unfortunately the blouse was supposed to be clearance and I didn't catch until too late that they didn't ring it up right. Eh. $18 instead of $12. Oh, well. (Also I bought some "unmentionables" to replace the ones that are getting holey, and I've lost 4-5 pairs of pantyhose recently so I got a 3-pack, which should get me through the show if not beyond.)
So, a productive, if slightly expensive, 4 hours. But hey, I didn't buy 5 pairs of shoes or anything! (Dammit.)
However. The costumer has been very scattered and dismissive about finding things for me in that role with "that's not important" and "We have time" as the responses when I've tried to talk to him about it. He did finally start to understand that I was set for my Pam costumes but wanted to talk about the Vicki ones last night, but then I got cut off with, "That just doesn't compute right now; I just can't handle that right yet, there's too much else still to do."
Okay. Fair enough. But the reason I wanted to talk to him about it was that the other cast member who thought she might have dresses doesn't... and because I don't have rehearsal tonight, I knew I would have time to take the 1-hour drive to the Outlet Mall to go shopping.
When he finally realized that's what I was saying, he said: "Oh! Great! Go for it," although he still wouldn't go through the costume plot so I'm not quite sure what I need for a couple scenes. But the important part was that I knew I needed a flowy cocktail dress that I can cha-cha and tango in (including a kick), and that it couldn't be black. (I also need a red dress (which actually I started to talk to him about when we first talked costumes and - surprise! - he wasn't listening/hearing that I needed to be in red *as Vicki* in the same scene when I needed to be in red *as Pam*), but I have a red dress that fits and that will work for that scene. Not that I was opposed to buying one if I'd found the right thing....)
Anyway, the upshot is that I headed down to the outlets today with a short list of items that, if I found them, would be good for the show. Retail therapy, baby!
I looked around in a few shops and wasn't finding much in the way of dressy dresses. I did find a couple things in Dress Barn that would have worked, but not fabulous. Then I went across to BGCG Max Azaria, which usually is a joke in the malls because everything is for petite little girls and it's way overpriced, too. But no! They had a HUGE selection of dresses (gowns, too, but they were off-mission so I didn't indulge)... and they were having a major sale, Nearly all the dresses were about $49 (down from $$$ originally). And the saleswoman was teh awesome. Not only did she help me sweep the store - we had about 20 dresses for me to try on - but she put me in the "big" room so I'd have a lot of room to move around. And she organized the dresses by color group, including putting all the red dresses to one side - and in a couple cases, bringing two sizes when she knew a dress ran small or large. AND, if that weren't enough, she offered to bring me a few shoes to try with the dresses so I'd see the height and really get a sense of how they would move.
Well, a bunch of the dresses were gorgeous but not right for the character. Some of them didn't move well. Some of them were ridiculous on me. Some of them were strapless, which um, no, not when I'm dancing around. But two of them were pretty much perfect. And one was turquoise, has a beautiful flowy skirt, and was $29 (originally $108) and the other was royal blue, a halter top! (usually halters look like crap on me, but this one looks fabulous), has a little gold belt detail, and was $39 (originally $188). And better yet: they're jersey (and one has POCKETS), so they'll be easy to maintain! So I asked them to hold them both for me until the end of the day and went in search of something better. Hah. I cruised through about 10 other clothing stores and didn't even see anything worth trying on. I did buy a pretty nasty scarf at Talbot's for only $5, because it's perfect for Pam. I did not buy the $8 one since I wasn't sure the costumer would like it, even though it was nicer, but scarves aren't generally my thing. I certainly wasn't going to buy any of the $10-25 ones!
Also on my list of "possible" things were a couple different shoes - mainly something to go with whatever dress I wound up wearing, and possibly a pair of f*ck-me red pumps to go with the red outfits. Well, I found many pairs of f*ck-me red pumps but all of them FAR too expensive, especially since I don't know for sure it's necessary! Also, I tried on quite a few pairs of shoes at Aerosoles and didn't buy any, though I was really tempted by 2-3 pairs that would have been great for other parts of the show *and* for work (assuming I get back to work soon)... but they were just enough off-mission that I couldn't be sure they'd be right for the show and I wasn't certain (in one case) whether I would really wear them afterward. So despite the absolutely AWESOME sale, I left them ALL there. (Pats self on back for resistance to shoe temptation!)
However, when I went back to Max Azaria to pick up my dresses, I decided to get one of the pairs of shoes that I'd used for trying them on. They are slightly silver-gold sparkle over cream suede, peep-toe, slightly platformy slingbacks, so they're really sexy. I may or may not use them for the show (I'm not sure about dancing in them), but if I do there's at least two places where I can use them. And they were the "last pair" (cough, they actually had 2 pair), so they were also only $29... Call it a birthday present to myself. And Valentine's. Shut up, they're gorge. For one thing, the saleswomean was awesome and I wanted her to get the sale. For another, both dresses and the shoes were still just less than $100, which was how much I'd been willing to spend on a single dress, if necessary, to make sure I had something suitable. Now admittedly, I'd had the idea that I could give it to the theatre and get reimbursed, but...I don't think I'll actually do that. We'll see. (Er. Okay, maybe I didn't totally resist shoe temptation. But mostly!)
And then I went back to Dress Barn and bought a dress I wanted last year, that they had back again, and a blouse, which was off-mission but fuck it. I had a coupon for the dress. Unfortunately the blouse was supposed to be clearance and I didn't catch until too late that they didn't ring it up right. Eh. $18 instead of $12. Oh, well. (Also I bought some "unmentionables" to replace the ones that are getting holey, and I've lost 4-5 pairs of pantyhose recently so I got a 3-pack, which should get me through the show if not beyond.)
So, a productive, if slightly expensive, 4 hours. But hey, I didn't buy 5 pairs of shoes or anything! (Dammit.)