When designing the Theoretical Ballgown rendering for Failure, a Love Story, I wanted to pay homage to each of the sisters and to Mortimer Mortimer, while also incorporating historical elements from the 1920s and the thematic element of time. I wanted the ballgown to have a vintage 1920s feel, so I based the figure on magazine ads from the period. Thus, the figure wearing the dress is long and slender, with elongated arms and fingers that aren’t quite anatomically correct. I also wanted to incorporate the Art Deco style, leading me to create the beading seen on the bodice of the dress. The beading wraps around and presents a clock on the bodice, which is a central element to both the ballgown design and the play. I then created the skirt in three layers, one to represent each sister.  The top layer contains a clock and cog design to represent Gerty, the oldest Fail sister, who runs their family clock shop and keeps their family ticking. The next layer contains waves to represent Jenny June, the middle Fail sister, who is an absolute water bug from the moment she is born. The final layer is full of music to represent Nelly, the bright and joyful youngest Fail sister who wants to be a famous singer. The final element of the dress—the piece holding everything together—is the sash and bow at the drop waist. This sash represents Mortimer Mortimer, who loves each of the Fail sisters at different points in time, and who carries on their legacy long after their passing. His sash ties together the thematic elements of the bodice with the legacy of the three Fail sisters. This Theoretical Ballgown not only captures the themes of Failure, a Love Story, but also weaves together the Fail sisters’ legacy, Mortimer Mortimer’s love, and the fleeting beauty of time itself.

When I first began working on Failure, a Love Story, I quickly latched onto the themes of love and legacy. I strongly feel that the point of this play is to tell the stories of those who are “on their way” and to honor their lives and legacies. However, I quickly hit a roadblock when trying to incorporate these two elements into a ballgown. To enhance my design, I added time as a third theme. Once I had love, legacy, and time, I was able to start cooking!

The idea to use three separate layers—one for each sister—came as I worked on Nelly’s rendering for the show’s costume design. I then realized that the bow was a perfect representation of Mortimer Mortimer: holding all the pieces together with the love he has for all three sisters. The hardest part of this design, ironically, was time. As the Costume Designer for this show, I was so busy working on the physical costumes that I struggled to find time to work on my honors project. Once I finally did, the design came together quickly, as I had been thinking about it for weeks before I ever put pen to paper.

My next design will be for Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, and I will be adding a colored rendering with swatches to the iteration process.