Avoid Costume Wardrobe Horrors

Tracey Nuthall from Costumes Without Drama reports.

The school costume wardrobe, aka ‘The black hole’, the messy room, the dumping ground, is a place of mystery. Going into it is not for the faint hearted.

There are two very important rules; sadly other members of staff or students do not always respect them.

Rule 1. NEVER put costumes away dirty. Five year old perspiration and makeup will never come out, so just don’t do it.

Rule 2. Put it back where it came from. Ha-ha! As if that would ever happen in a school costume wardrobe!

The only way to make sure Rule 2 is obeyed is for ONLY one person to have the keys to the room.

Then there is the question of storage. Do you use tubs, shelving or racking. If you have 100 tubs they need to be organised in a ‘fool proof’ manner, or you will be forever searching.

Clothes racks are definitely the easiest way to organise the wardrobe, but CAN take up a lot of space if the rails are not at useful heights.

Costumes without Drama uses a variety of storage techniques, with the bulk of the costumes hanging on rails. Storing over 10,000 costume items so they are readily accessible is a challenge, and no matter which options are chosen, it all takes space. If you are out of space, it may be worth considering other options, like hiring some costumes.

When hanging costumes on rails, it is so much easier to be consistent with your hanging technique. There is not a right and wrong way to hang. We at Costumes without Drama ALWAYS hang garments on coat hangers so the hook at the top is pointing to the left if the garment is facing you. That way we can always get to the barcode label for easy identification. Of course, you may choose to put the hook to the rightprovided you are consistent.

For more useful tips on how to organise your school wardrobe, go to www.costumeswithoutdrama.com.au