The noise of sewing machines, the snipping of scissors and the hustle of students are sounds exuding from the basement costume shop of the Singleton Center for the Performing Arts.
Elizabeth Hopper, associate professor, is head of costume design at VCU. It is her responsibility to design for the majority of shows the theatre department puts on.
In the costume shop, Hopper, shop manager Karl Green, graduate students and 60 theatre majors with an emphasis on costume design bring to life the characters of productions with their tailored designs according to script and the director’s vision.
“Her costumes are really like another charm in the show and they define the character so well. I am just in awe of what she does,” said Glynn Brannan, creative director of the Department of Theatre.
Indiana native, Hopper, has spent 30 years at VCU. During her years with the Department of Theatre, she has designed costumes for approximately 140 shows.
A profession such as costume design keeps Hopper on her toes, which is why she
continues to stay in the industry.
“You never know what you are going to be asked to do next and that makes it interesting. Each show is a new challenge. So, you spend a lot time problem-solving and it never gets dull.”
Hopper and Green have already started the problem-solving process while working on some of the spring semester shows. An entire show, “Metamorphosis,” will take place in a swimming pool.
“We have spent a lot of time thinking about what we can make stuff out of and if it gets wet every day it doesn’t really matter. We are going to be doing basic costumes – kind of like the Olympic swim costumes in a variety. There are probably over 100 costumes in the show,” Hopper said.
Many of Hopper’s original creations have been shown in Theatre Crafts Magazine, the Anderson Gallery, Spirit Square Galleries in Charlotte, N.C. and American College Theatre Festivals. Her works have also entered several national competitions such as the USITT National Design Competitions and Chesapeake Design Competition.
Hopper also was one of five designers chosen to design and create epoch attire for the outreach program of the North Carolina Museum of History alongside Colonial Williamsburg.
The designing and making of a single costume is a lengthy and intricate process. After creating a design, a mark up of garment called muslin is made before fabric has been cut.
“The most complicated of designs, the Elizabethan, might take 80 hours. It just really depends on the play and the costume,” Hopper said.
Many blur the line between costume design and fashion design, but Hopper stresses the differences in both trades.
“It is not alike at all. Fashion design has to do with what people are wearing. Costume design so seldom has to do with fashion that it is almost obscure; most plays have to do with real people from different periods of time. Nobody wears fashion.”
Hopper, who holds a masters degree in fine arts from the University of Wisconsin, teaches a variety of essential tools to her future costume designers. She teaches the technical aspects of costume design, costume history and makeup.
McKinsey Bamber, junior theatre major with an emphasis on costume design, came to VCU with little to no experience in clothes making. She has been learning the art of costume design with Hopper for three years and has made many elaborate costumes.
“She is a very good teacher because she expects a lot out of you so that you are always improving. If she didn’t push me I would never excel at anything and that’s why I like her,” Bamber said.
Hopper’s attitude, approach, venerability and know-how has earned her the respect of her students and peers.
“She is a very business-like and very focused. Her focus is her students. She knows everything about everyone. She takes such good care of her students. I think she knows what the students need after all these years,” Brannan said.
Aside from teaching, Hopper is a member of the Southeastern Theatre Conference serving on several committees. She is the past Vice Chair of the Chesapeake Section of USITT and past Vice President of Region VI of the Costume Society of America.
Hopper is also a co-writer of two books; “Women’s Wear of the 1920’s: with complete patterns” and “Women’s Wear of the 1930’s: with complete patterns”. Hopper is currently working on her third book.
“She is one of those people that people refer to as being the best. We are very lucky to have her,” Brannan said.