Thursday 28 February 2013

Meetings - the runaround Dorset part 2

After arriving back in Bournemouth, myself and Tanya quickly headed to the Pavillion. The second years on the Acting course are in the midst of their assessments and one group of three are doing a drag perfomance and asked for assistance with costume so, with Tanya costuming, I went allong to assist with fittings. As it was it was a very simple task - Tanya had bought a range of dresses for the actors to try so my task was to find a dress that fit and suited the actor.

Meetings - the runaround Dorset part 1

First of the four meetings - Swanage Amphitheatre!
 
Setting off at 9am on the bus from Bournemouth, myself and producer Tanya Pye went to view the Swanage Amphitheatre today, venue for the upcoming performance of Romeo and Juliet, and to sort out the last of the paperwork. Given the budget and performance type, this is a perfect venue being open air but still able to be enclosed, and with idylic surroundings and view which will act as an incedible backdrop to the perfomance.
 
Being there was very different from just being sent images and an aerial view and after scouting out the dimensions of the space I was able to sketch up a basic ground plan and get a much better idea of staging and the logistics for the set and placement of the costume tent.
 
At 11 we met with Carolyn, our contact for the Amphitheatre to talked to us about the show and the logistics of the venue - she is not only on board but wonderfully enthusiastic about everything we have proposed, and it seems that they are also willing to provide us with publicity included in the venue price! Now the next step is to get on with the costumes and start drawing up more detailed gound plans and set idea's from the photographs I was able to take.

Wednesday 27 February 2013

Helpers from the first year!

This afternoon after meeting Grace I was met with an unexpected windfall in the form of two of our costume first years looking to work on a live project for their CDP hours! Every first year on costume is  required to do 10 hours minimum work experience for a live project - either an university production or a job that they have found for themselves doing something costume or set related. With this in mind - and Mad Hatters on the lookout for helpers - I instantly sent them to Tanya to hear more about the project from the person who, if they took on the project, would be overseeing their work on an immediate basis. 

So, after they chatted to Tanya about the project, we now have two helpers for two weeks starting on Monday. With this in mind and organisation one of the skills that I can't seem to switch off nowadays, I immediately sat down with the designs and started making a list with Tanya of all the smaller, and larger, jobs that they would be able to do in two weeks that would give them a good amount and variety of experience while still being things that would not be overloading them. I have organised this into three sections - makes, small detail work, and costume props/accessories. From this we now have at least five things in each category so plenty of things for two costume students to do. 

With one specialising in making and the other design, we have a range that should appeal with everything from sculptural and costume props work in the form of the ears and the costume prop grin for the Cheshire Cat, to larger makes like the fur shorts for the Doormouse, White Rabbit and Cheshire Cat, to small refined detail work like appliquéing the letters on the Tweedles hats, hand sewing ribbon detailing onto waistcoats and button decoration onto smaller costume pieces - and this is only a small amount of the work we have to offer! Every little helps though so even if they are only able to do a couple of the items on the list it will still be a huge help.

Also - with the March Hare's hat nearly completed and the White Queens toile coming along nicely, Tanya set me to looking for a waistcoat for the White Rabbit. We have not been able to find a white and blue check waistcoat so it was all about finding one that would go with the feel of the costume - posh but quirky. With this in mind, I found a beautiful blue and silver patterned one on ebay that with a few buttons and alterations is going to be perfect.

Good news for suits!

We have suits for Demetrius and Lysander, and Hermia is now completed!

As a result of this mornings sourcing, this afternoon Grace brought in the dress option that she found online and ordered as a potential for Hermia in the first scene, and they are fantastic - we now have them awaiting final approval from our head of year on the rail. If they are approved, this will mean that we now have all of the costumes for Hermia for the production.

Grace also came in today with an armful of suits - no less then 6 different suits from a variety of shops, including suit options from Zara and H&M. Amongst that were two suits that are, in my opinion perfect - and both from Matalan. Matalan are, it seems, going against the current popular trend of thinning the jacket lapels for suits and making the legs skinny, and are instead going back to the more retro, slightly wider lapel and the wide leg trousers. This may be going against the modern trend in high street shops but is perfect for our production! The suits are a silvery grey suit for Lysander, and a deep grey pinstripe suit for Demetrius! They are now also on the rail awaiting final approval.

Tuesday 26 February 2013

Romeo and Juliet - not on the wayside!

For my secondary EMP I am doing 10 character costume designs from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I chose to do this as my secondary EMP as it is a live project that I am designing for, to be performed in July initially at the Swanage Amphitheatre. Due to the size of A Midsummer Nights Dream, the realisation of which makes up such a large portion of this unit, in order to have a parative portion of work (excuse the alliteration) I have been asked to hand in only 10 of the character designs.
However, proffessionally I will be designing all of the costumes and the set for the production and will be posting about the performance on here under the simple label of Romeo and Juliet2013 for the costumes, and set, that I am not submitting as part of my coursework.
 
I hope that made sense.
 
I have been researching for several weeks now into the tudor period, and have been looking heavily into the silhouettes and fabric designs, specifically on the differences between the upper and lower classes.
I have the copy of the script that we are using, will the abreviations and cuts that have been made, and it is making for interesting work in character analysis. With the production for the most part fully cast, I will be working heavily with the actors which will help me that much more to express their characters and characterisation.
I have, over the course of my time at university, developed a fondness for Shakespeare in its many interpretations - and possible interpretations - and am looking forward to designing for a tudor production, though abstracted, as it is a direct contrast to the majoity of projects I have worked on for the last two years, and I have found that I thrive on variety.

Mad Hatters - Snatched time for a production meeting

Myself and Tanya Pye managed to snatch enough time to have a miniature production meeting for troubleshooting some of the new costume issues that have arrisen.
 
The Main Issues:
  • BUDGET - we dont have one. Not a concrete budget - the organiser has asked us to do some fundraising for the costumes ourselves.
  • BUTTONS - the sheer volume of buttons needed for the costumes will require either a lot of the budget, or button donations.
  • TIMELINE - with time marching on, and both myself and Tanya having deadlines for other projects fast approaching, the timeline for the next few months will be crucial in keeping on target and making sure that everything is ready and up to standard.
 
From this, myself and Tanya were able to come up with a cursory action plan of sorts to address the immediate issues.
Budget - the university has begun running a craft fair once a fortnight to allow students to sell their work and fundraise for their courses and for themselves. Between Tanya's baking skills and my jewelery making and painting we should hopefully be able to raise some money for the costumes. Also, the university students union, while being unable to donate directly to the charity as it counts as a charitable organisation itself, has donated some money towards the costume and set.
Buttons - after discussing it today, we have decided to set up a button bank in our costume studio's in the form of a giant jar and ask for button donations. We are hoping for a good response as our fellow costumers are well known for their generosity of spirit and it is for charity.
Timeline - we have a provisional timeline that we are trying to stick to. While many of the deadlines will remain the same, further refinement is needed.
 
Costumes;
Three more of the costume designs are now done! The two playing card tabard designs are now done, and so is the costume design for the organiser Becki. It must now be sent to her for approval. As she is the organiser and will therefore be the most in demand and technically active of the crew I have made her costume elegant and simple but functional, cool and easy to move about in.

Very basic rendering of the costume for the organiser!
 

Fabrics and Dilema's

Fabrics
Jess, our buyer, has returned triumphant from fabric hunting in London! Not only did she get all of the London fabrics we asked for but she also managed to find some fantastic alternatives to replace the fabrics that were no longer available. We have now got a replacement fabric for the missing Greengages knitted jersey in the form of a beautiful multi-toned green/brown netlike, almost mossy fabric that is fantastically textural and should work amazingly well with the textural techniques that our recruited second years will be starting on the week after next.
 
Fittings
Another dilema has once again reared its head in the form of fittings - What do you do when one of your actors doesn't turn up to his fitting - for the third time?
 
This is the unfortunate reality we are facing, and when it is for a principal character, and when in the absence of the supervisors your makers come to you to ask where he is and you can't answer, it is not a comfortable situation. Unfortunately my supervisors were both unavailable today on other projects, and I was unable to ask them for advice - therefore I have been advised to speak to my tutors tomorrow in the hopes that we can find a solution as, while this kind of thing does happen, with the production swiftly approaching and the maker not being able to proceed until the fitting is done it is a problem that needs to be resolved swiftly.
 

Monday 25 February 2013

Suits suits suits

The suits have been a plague on this project but after going through my research again with Grace we now have a much clearer view to what suits we want to get to the point that we were able to find some strong possibilities online. It seems that despite the designs and conversations, the idea of using the western, wide lapelled flared trousered suits had still lingered - but after presenting my research from last term that has died a death at last to be replaced by more period specific accurate concepts of the suits we need, which thankfully for us are also quite close to modern suits and much more available!
Grace has done a fantastic amount of research into places to find suits and has found some outlets for well known stores that are only available online. Now, armed with the possibilities we have looked at she has gone out to hunt in person again.
 
I have found that I am doing a remarkable amount of different jobs for this project, from modifying my designs and further character costume considerations to fabric sourcing to contacting actors for fittings and hunting for suits. It appears that this has not gone unnoticed by my tutors as I discovered in my tutorial this morning and I have been advised to take a step back and make sure that I am not doing too much and that I am not being asked to do a role that is not mine, and to look further into the role of the designer in theatre - but where does the role of the designer end? I have asked many of my peers this question and it seems to vary not only by designer but also by project.
 
I think that as productions evolve, the role of designer adapts, as all roles do, to suit the need of the project in order to help it thrive.

Sunday 24 February 2013

Overseeing?

Is this the correct term? Overseeing the production of half of the designs for a show while still designing the others for it is an unusual experience, but with costumes being added and designing for the 'backstage' crew as well Mad Hatters is increasing every week into an ever larger and more extravagent event.
 
To date I have designed the costumes for all of the wonderland characters and had them approved, the hat for the organiser and the costumes for wardrobe mistress Tanya Pye and myself. The organiser has expressed the need for all of the backstage crew to be dressed differently depending on department considering the sheer size of the event now so that in the event of a problem the characters will be able to find the people that they need quickly and efficiently.

My Costume
Tanya Pye's Costume
 


I have also begun, in collabouration with the wardrobe mistress, to design set and props for the event, including the rose tree's and the tea table.
 
There have been, as of late last week, two more characters added to the production, being two playing cards. I have been asked to design these two characters as well - though unlike the others I now know in advance the gender of the characters - both female. These designs, along with the costume for the organiser, I am presenting tomorrow electronically for approval to the organiser.
 

There have been the added challenges of overseeing the making of the White Queen, March Hare and various other items which are being sourced for the event in collabouration with Tanya Pye, head maker and wardrobe mistress. The biggest development has been the March Hare's hat - which is now almost complete. This involved the base hat - a straw boater as per my design - with a tea cup that has been created by Tanya by crocheting it out of wool and ribbon, to go on the top on top of a knitted doile. The latest edition has been a knitted biscuit to go in the tea cup. Still to be added is the green ribbon with buttons around the hat and the March Hare's ears.

Saturday 23 February 2013

Sourcing away!

I have joined fairy and Athenians supervisor Grace more actively in the hunt for suits as of Friday! It has been a challenge despite the designs in a way as when you ask someone for a 1970's suit, they automatically think flares, bell-bottoms and giant collars. We are looking for 1970's Greek suits however, and that is a very different matter - conservative suits with wider lapels then now, certainly, but not the giant collars you would find in England or America, and with the militerised atmosphere of the early 70's where we are set there were not flares or bell-bottoms at all. So the challenge is now to find suits with the right lapels and trousers, without reading too modern.
 
The ladies wear is more likely to date the production as it is  reads more as 'stereotypical' 70's, especially the shoes and hairstyles.

Friday 22 February 2013

Another round of fittings, and the trouble with suits...

First of the days fittings
This is I believe the fourth round of fittings that we have had - another problem with being third in a series of four productions is that almost all your actors are working on another production first so finding when they can come up for fittings is a challenge in itself.
The fitting for Maya's (Helena's) wedding dress was fantastic, the only problem being the armhole was slightly too big, so that when it was brought in the sleeve ended up being too short. Other then that, I asked for the neckline to be altered slightly to soften it.
Maya's slip fitting was done at the same time, and other then the colour is perfect. This being the problem with ordering online - the picture showed it to be a peach/beige, the colour said it was cream, when it arrived it was a very pale off white. We have been assured by tutor Alison that the fabric can be dyed but as there are two slips that are meant to be identical we will need to dye them at the same time.
Then was the body suit fitting for one of our fairy dancer ASM's Abigail. This required only a very few standard alterations - the sleeves are able to be removed, and the neckline was widened to ensure that she will be able to get it on and off easily.


Meeting with Grace
After the fittings, myself and Grace sat down to talk over the problems with the suits. We are having a great deal of dificulty in sourcing blue suits in multiples for Lysander and Helena. After speaking to Mandy, one of our tutors, we discussed changing Lysanders suit from pale blue to a silver-grey. This is a change I am happy to make from the design as it is still in the colour pallete and theme, however the issue is still in style, budget and availability.
After discussing the similar problem with Helena's suit and finding some pottential options, we discussed them with Mandy who, after searching with us, managed to find what was set to be a blue suit jacket, in a different style but could be altered, at a shop locally via their website. On phoning the shop, Grace had them put one of the jackets asside for me to view, and with an hour and a half until the next and final fitting of the day, I ran down to the shop to see the jacket - only to find out that it was not blue. It was green. Well, more precisely duckegg blue, which is a very similar colour, and a very DIFFERENT colour from what we're looking for and can use.
 
On arriving back I found Mandy and explained the issue, and we discussed changing Helena's suit to pale grey as well as an option in the event that we can't find a blue suit for her.


The next fitting;
The afternoon fitting was for Sacha for her fairy dancer body suit. This involved, again, only the most minor alterations to the neckline for ease getting into and out of the suit, the left sleeve being removed and as standard it seems the knee being brought in.



The final meeting with Grace of the day;
Which brings us to the next problem of the day. Despite checking 2 weeks ago that all the fabrics that we wanted from fabric land - in particular the two knitted jersey's for the base costumes of the mechanicals-as-fairies, our buyer Jess went for them this morning, and 3 of the fabrics including the green knitted jersey are now unavailable. We still have the coral knitted jersey, the two velvets and one of the sheers, so this is a good start on the fabrics. However, there is a light of hope in that Jess is going up to London, and now armed with my fabric file with the missing fabrics she is going to attempt to find similar replacements for them.

Thursday 21 February 2013

Spur of the moment wigs!

I have discovered that it is a very exciting moment when the phone rings and it is your make-up artist asking if you have a minute to come and see her about wigs. Within 5 minutes I was sat with Louise in the library at a computer looking through the vast amount of dreadlock information, research and colour palette's she had compiled.


Outcomes of this meeting;
  • Size and type - we will be having single looped dreads for Titania and Oberon
  • The separate dreadlock colour palettes for Titania and Oberon according to the site we should be able to order them from
  • Costing - Louise is preparing the projected cost of each wig/dreadlock extension strip
  • The placement of the dreadlocks to be woven in as per Louise's adaptation of my design

Wednesday 20 February 2013

Fittings!

Our fittings for this morning were primarilly to get the wedding dresses that we have fitted. Having sourced Jess' (Hermia's) dress, her fitting was simply to make sure that it fits and is suitable - and I am delighted to announce it sucessful! It will need the length altering when we have the shoe's to go with it, but that will come later.
 
Next was Sacha (Hippolyta) for her toille fitting, which was not as successful - while the layers are the right spacing, the bust and waist lines were very much too high, which also put the placement of the arm holes and sleeves off.
After the collar and sleeves were removed from the toille and the shoulders had been let out to the extent of the seam allowance it was clear that once the waist and bust lines were in the correct place the toille would be a much better fit, with the tiers in the right place.
 
With these alterations, the next fitting will have to be after the actress' current production 'Tales from Ovid' with AUCB.
 
After the fittings, Ethan and Sacha needed to be fitted by Louise for their wigs. This was a fascinating process - I was able to watch Louise pin-curl Sacha's hair and put it up into the wig, and then I was able to help, in a small capacity, with Ethan's fitting. For Ethan it was a more complicated process as not only is his hair densely curly to start with, with a lot of it, but being able to hide it on the crown of his head was no small undertaking. After his hair was put up, Louise covered his head with clingfilm, then with myself holding the film in place she began to cover it with sellotape. With enough layers this formed a hard shell, which she marked out the hairlines onto before cutting around the ears and removing the cap. This will now be the basis of Ethan's wig.

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Organising and the dreaded flu

Today, on meeting with Grace I have been told that we are to have six second years coming on board in 2 weeks! From this we have been trying to work out things that they can do. Their brief states that they must make part of a costume and be able to produce a work book from it. After looking through the list of costumes that need making and what is as yet unassigned, Oliver has decided that two of them can take over making the Lion and Ass heads.
For the fairies, as our breaking down will be taking off after Easter, our main task that we want to set the second years on is the over-costumes for the mechanicals-as-fairies. This will mean four of them making a very basic tunic/waistcoat out of the fabric we provide and then using textural techniques to make them similar in colour and texture to the main fairies and fairy dancers. This will mean that while they are only making part of costumes, they are still technically making a costume each which will be a boost in making a work book and something impressive to put in their CV.

Grace and I also went through the fabrics to be used for the base tunics/waistcoats and have decided on the knitted jerseys from fabric land - with Flute's and Snugs to be made of the Coral with a 2m allowance each, and Snout and Starveling's to be made of the Greengages with 2m allowance for Snout and 1.5m allowance for Starvelings, and any leftover fabric to be used as textural extra's for the other costumes.
 
 
Outcomes from todays meetings
  • Materials for second years must be ready for 4th of March
  • Make sure Ethan knows to arrive for a wig fitting on Wednesday

Thursday 14 February 2013

Make-up meeting and all about Wigs!

At 1:30, Louise from make-up arrived with one of her team, Jenny, to talk about the henna for the fairies! She showed us her air brush samples on lycra which she was not happy with as they had streaked and blurred, but she also had a sample of fabric pen on lycra which had come out much better. After talking to Rebecca - our head of year - it has been specified that our makers should be the ones to put the henna markings on the bodysuits, but in collabouration with make-up to make sure they have the same pattern.
 
This also lead to a discussion on Wigs! After discussion with the make-up crew we have found that Hippolyta and Theseus will both need two wigs due to the pottential quick changes as both actors have long hair that will need to be pincurled for the fairy wigs.
We found that after a problem with a wig used in the recent AUCB production of Spring Awakening, one of our course technicians, Mark, as well as being one of our staff members on site at the venue has been put in charge of wigs and making sure that they are right so there are no more last minute problems. Mark took us to his store of wigs from the last productions in the hopes that we could find a wig for Theseus or Hippolyta from among the wigs we already have - and we may have had success with finding a wig for Titania!
 
Upon finishing with the wig hunt in the AUCB supply, Mark asked if I could speak with him just about the wigs, so fetching my designs we sat down to discuss them, and upon finding out just how many wigs there are in the production he asked for another meeting with make-up the same afternoon to discuss them - the main problem being that make-up's budget needs to be able to support the wigs, and at the moment it wont be able to. This is a big production in terms of costume, and needs to be right.
 
At half 3, myself, Mark, and Louise and Jenny from make-up sat down for a propper discussion on the wig situation. The outcome of this meeting - Oberon and Titania are going to have strips of deadlock extensions woven into their hair, the fairy dancers are going to have wigs of dreadlocks knotted by Louise and her team, and on Wednesday they are going to see if the wig we have found will fit Hippolyta. For Ethan (Theseus) there is more of a problem as he has long hair that he will not cut and with it his head is too big for a wig to be bought for him, and so Louise and the team are going to make his wig as well. This is a lot of work for Louise and her team but she is excited to get started and I have absolute faith that she will be able to do this.

Wednesday 13 February 2013

Fabrics - back to the drawing board

After looking over and choosing fabrics on Monday, getting them approved by Rebecca and contacting the suppliers, we have hit a snag. Some of the fabrics we wanted - specifically the dreaded lilac - is no longer available! So today after a catch up tutorial for the entire Midsummers team, myself and Grace have had a sit down once again with the fabric suppliers bibles and set about to problem solve.
 
A suggestion that Mandy has had that is apparently common in theatre design is that when we can't find the colour in the fabric we want, rather then changing the fabric, changing the colour is a common solution. With that in mind I have had a think about the colour pallete and have decided that if we cannot find a lilac option to replace the other fabrics, then the alternatives would be either a warm grass green or a gold.
 
After hunting through the catalogues, and finding a few pottentials in green and gold, we hit upon a combination of lilac fabrics that would work effectively!

Monday 11 February 2013

Sleeves and Roulo...Ruelo...Rolo loops?

Rouleau loops - I have had to look up the spelling of this as it seems I have been spelling it wrong for quite a while.

Today, I met with Mandy - third year making tutor - and Helena in an impromptu meeting to discuss sleeves and fastenings as the fabrics we are now looking at have no stretch to them and with the narrow sleeves on the designs, changes are needed. After looking through books on period specific sleeves, I have decided upon a sleeve with a loose gather at the shoulder in the chiffon, flowing down to a wider gather into a satin cuff fastened with the imfamous rouleau loops.

The changes to the fabric has also meant a change has been requied for Hippolyta's wedding dress (maker Dannielle)  as her sleeves have the same problem. For this however I have opten to change it to a fluted sleeve as this mirrors the tiers on the design more effectively. This dress will have rouleau loops, though down the back as a fastening.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

London Trip

Shepherds Bush was our first destination, and after setting off from Bournemouth at 7am, Oliver, myself and our costume supervisors Grace and Sarah made a thorough search of every fabric shop we could find. Grace and I were in search of the fabric for the wedding dresses for Helena and Hippolyta and for and fairy fabrics that we could find. We had some joy in terms of the fairy fabrics in the form of a beautiful multi-toned red and orange light weight fabric, red and burgundy with patches of yellow and orange and a beautiful drape to it with a wide faint pattern. I had seen this fabric before when searching for fabric inspiration in london last term, and was very happy to not only find that this fabric was still available but is also still appropriate for the fairies.
We also found options for both of the wedding dresses. While the colour is perfect for the lilac wedding dress the fabric is an inexpensive poly-chiffon with a nice drape but not a nice feel to it. The colour for the peach fabric is a little off but the drape and texture is lovely. These are viable options but we would definitely preffer to find much better fabrics for each. For the wedding dresses we are leaning more towards chiffon and crepes.
 
Berwick Street was our second destination, and once again we trawled the fabric shops. Though Berwick Street was by more expensive it yealded some impressive finds including some options for the fairies, but unfortunately nothing for the wedding dresses.
 
After almost six hours of searching every fabric shop we could find in the most well known and well stocked fabric houses in London, one thing has been made clear - sourcing pastel purple fabric in a non-grey shade is a Herculean challenge.

Monday 4 February 2013

Make-up and ... Wedding Dresses?

Thats right - the hunt for the two remaining wedding dresses has begun! Hermia's - pink - and Helena's - peach - both 1970's.
 
This morning gave me the opportunity to meet with makers Lucy, Helena and Danielle to check on their progress and discuss any problems they were having. Last Thursday, Lucy was experimenting with dye recipies for the lycra in order to get a match for the very different skin tones of the cast and today she brought me in her results. Helena is far ahead and going well - her toille for Titania is finished and she is waiting on the measurements for her second costume - Robin Goodfellow - from our supervisor Sarah who is currently in London costuming a grad film. Danielle assured me that she would be pattern drafting today. We have a week and a half until the toille fittings - scheduled provisionally for the 13th.
 
At 11, Louise our head of make-up for the production arrived! Though I was initially not going to have prosthetics on any of the fairies, Ken our director is set on having them and as such we are havin ears for the fairies. They are not dramatic, remaining small, and to prevent them from appearing too elfin I have asked that they curve outwards as opposed to upwards. The mechanicals as fairies have a slightly larger, curved version. Louise is going to make us up some practice ones so that we can see what they look like in the flesh, as it were.  For the remainder of the meeting the conclusion is that - make-up will do the henna on the costumes, with the makers having the option of doing some of the henna if they choose. Louise is going to draw me up some henna templates in order for me to choose what I want it to look like. Louise is also going to draw me up a template of the pattern on Oberons thigh as this is a variation of a design I found in a book on Indian henna and I am very keen to have that one kept. Helena and Danielle are going to draw up for Louise a diagram of where the costumes end in order for Louise to be able to work out where she will be doing the henna on skin and where the costumes will need to be blended to the skin in order for it to achieve the 'second skin' look that I want for the costumes.
 
After the meeting it was time for me to run to the train station as Grace managed to book us an appointment for the wedding dress department in the Oxfam in Poole where we made a tremendous find! On looking at the design, the saleswoman went into their storage and came out with an almost perfect dress! The only part that needs altering is the neckline and shoulder straps but other then that it is spot on. The most fortunate part was the price - £20. Whereas all of the other dresses were brand new wedding and bridesmaid dresses numbering upwards of £150 this was one that was left over from a vintage dress sale that no one had bought, so it had been reduced.
Providance.