Dirty Laundry: Unpacking the Costume Closet

16/06/2021

Our friends at are hosting this important discussion tomorrow! Eliminating 10-out-of-12s is essential to creating a more equitable, accessible, and safe theatre for us all. https://www.usitt.org/education-training/usitt-webinars

11/06/2021

Hear more of our conversation with Elizabeth Wislar in our new episode on Decolonization! https://www.dirtylaundrythepodcast.com/episode-3

10/06/2021

Past Dirty Laundry guests Elsa Hiltner and Elizabeth Wislar will be part of today’s / discussion on ending unpaid internships. Check it out! bit.ly/3yxEiJ4

09/06/2021

Episode 3: Decolonization is out today! Listen now to our conversations with Elizabeth Wislar, Dede Ayite, and Clint Ramos. https://www.dirtylaundrythepodcast.com/episode-3

02/06/2021

Need something to tide you over until our new episode comes out? Check out our interview with Krista Kopper on The Backstage Creative! A great podcast with a great host; we were honored to be asked on. https://thebackstagecreative.libsyn.com/the-dirty-laundry-podcast?

01/06/2021

Our episode on Decolonization will be out later this week! Enjoy this preview of our conversation with Clint Ramos.

04/05/2021

Gender Gaps in Film Production from the Annenberg Study “Segregated Sets”.
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04/05/2021

Gender Gaps in Film Production ~ ⁠
From the Annenberg study “Segregated Sets”

01/05/2021

This podcast was born out of a difficult conversation on white washing in American Film and Theatre that made us realize we needed to be able to share our truth. Dirty Laundry: Unpacking The Costume Closet is a podcast exploring the intersectionality of costumes and social issues. We have difficult conversations on issues that face us but most importantly, how we can change and grow while facing them.

Dirty Laundry: Unpacking The Costume Closet is an impactful, insightful, and nuanced podcast that is designed to challenge the way we think about our bodies and the clothes we wear.

01/05/2021

Wow. I’m reading some of the flames going up in the Costume People FB group which for the non-Costume folx is one of the largest FB groups for costume professionals where one can typically get good information. I’d like to take this moment to point out that this is exactly why I started Dirty Laundry: Unpacking the Costume Closet and if people are looking to build communities beyond this nonsense group, please take a listen. Our episode on Decolonizing Costumes comes out this month and we are so excited to share this with everyone!

26/04/2021

Congratulations to and on their historic Oscar win for being the first Black Womxn to win for Best Hair and Makeup. This is SO important because Black Hair - as covered in our recent podcast - so often is overlooked and it is incredibly vital that people who understand and have lived experiences of Black Hair get to design, and are RECOGNIZED for shows/films about the Black experience. ⁠⁠
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"I can picture Black trans women standing up here.⁠⁠
And Asian sisters.⁠⁠
And our Latina sisters.⁠⁠
And Indigenous women.⁠⁠
And I know that one day it won't be unusual or groundbreaking.⁠⁠
It will just be normal." - Mia Neal⁠⁠
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I got to work with Mia two years ago on a production of The Rolling Stone, designed by at two years ago, and her candor and openness on the treatment of Black Hair in the industry has always been something I remind myself of when we start to have these conversations about how Social Justice doesn't just end with a DEI statement - it has to continue in action - and in the smaller ways actors and designers face Racism in the theatre.

26/03/2021

Congratulations and a big thank you to our friends at On Our Team and Costume Professionals for Wage Equity!

WONDERFUL NEWS! has joined the ranks of organizations making changes for a better industry.

A numeric pay value is now required for ALL paid listings on Playbill's job site.

Thank you to for partnering with us on this endeavor and to everyone who spoke up on behalf of Pay Transparency. BIG THANKS to for hearing our call to action. This is a win for everyone.



[IMAGE] Job post submission form on Playbill.com job site. Red text has been added stating: "**Note: Fpr paid jobs, the AMOUNT field is now required. Please enter a numerical value or range; leaving the field blank or entering TBD or similar will result in a delay in approval or rejection." Text overlay on screenshot in block letters reads, "WE DID IT!"

24/03/2021

Playbill is the last major theatre industry job site without a post-the-pay rule. It’s time for Playbill to end its facilitation of pay secrecy.
Join me by adding your name and sharing the open letter:

18/03/2021

The rise of Anti-Asian sentiment in America is painful to watch. This shooting was not the result of a “bad day”. This shooting was a result of a racist media campaign starring a racist and misogynistic ex-president, that was brought to fruition by a racist, capitalist and patriarchal system. This issue is intersectional. ⁠
Link in bio for the Stop AAPI Hate Campaign.

17/03/2021

Did you enjoy our latest episode on Black Hair? We recommend reading “Knights Of The Razor” by Douglas Walter Bristol to learn more. Click the link in our bio to purchase it from our Bookshop- you’ll be supporting your local bookstore and the podcast too!

12/03/2021

We stand with our friends at On Our Team and Costume Professionals for Wage Equity in demanding pay transparency from all job postings on Playbill.

Sign their letter of support here: https://onourteam.org/actions

11/03/2021

Episode 2 is here! Don’t miss our discussion on Black Hair with Cassandra Freeman, , and . Link in bio.

11/03/2021

Stage manager, advocate, and educator joins us to talk about Black Hair in our new episode! Click the link in our bio to subscribe today!

10/03/2021

Hair/wig stylist and actor talks with us about her career on our upcoming episode about Black Hair. Here are some samples of Nikiya’s incredible work. Visit her website to see more (link in our bio) and listen to her interview when Episode 2 drops tonight!

09/03/2021

Our next episode, on Black Hair, drops tomorrow! Here’s a preview of ’s conversation with actress Cassandra Freeman, who shared some of the challenges she’s faced in getting her hair styled and cared for as a Black woman in the industry. Click on the link in our bio to subscribe today!

25/02/2021

As Dirty Laundry looks towards its next episode on the Discrimination of Black hair in the costume world, and how to decolonize the way theatres and people in theatrical management think about Black hair, we want to highlight some of the stories that are felt and not often voiced. If you have a story you would like to share to help raise awareness, please message/dm/email us.

22/02/2021

Madam CJ Walker was America's first female self-made billionaire. She managed a beauty empire that revolutionized Black hair products for Black women by a Black woman.

Stay tuned for our next episode, which focuses on Black hair and make-up!

09/02/2021

So grateful for our listeners! Please keep spreading the word so we can reach more theatre artists and enthusiasts. Click the link in our bio to subscribe today.
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Alt Text: White background with graphics of multicolored fireworks and the Dirty Laundry podcast logo. Black text reading Congratulations from Buzzsprout! Green text reading 100 Podcast Downloads.
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09/02/2021

Porsche McGovern, , and talk with about Feminized Labor and achieving pay and labor equity in theatre!

Subscribe Today: dirtylaundrythepodcast.buzzsprout.com
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08/02/2021

Check out this essay by one of the guests on our first ever episode of Dirty Laundry on Pay Equity! Link in bio!
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27/01/2021

We're up on Apple Podcasts! Subscribe today to hear our mini-sode. Our first full episode is coming soon!

https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1550684571

‎Performing Arts · 2021

26/01/2021

We’re Live! Go to https://dirtylaundrythepodcast.buzzsprout.com for our RSS feed, where you can hear our introductory Mini-Episode and subscribe to the podcast through the app/directory of your choice.

NOTE: We are up on Spotify, Stitcher, and a number of other directories. We should be up on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and more soon! Keep checking our RSS feed over the next few days as we increase availability.

26/01/2021

26/01/2021

16/11/2020

The setup I had with lights and all at to record our first episode today with was pretty amazing. I am so grateful that they shared their space, time and recording equipment with me!

03/11/2020

Hoping that every one has already voted or is planning to vote today. Stay safe, stay masked, and social distance.
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01/11/2020

Waiting for our first episode to come out? Listen to the episode that I guested on this month where we talked about my personal design process but also, feminized labor!

31/10/2020

Fun Fact: None of the Commercial Costume Shops in NYC are Unionized. As compared to the unionized Scenic, Lighting and Sound shops that exist. The unionized shops help to peg wages for non-unionized folx at a higher rate.

30/10/2020

Another great book to read is "The Golden Thread" by Kassia St. Clair -
From colorful 30,000-year-old threads found on the floor of a Georgian cave to the Indian calicoes that sparked the Industrial Revolution, The Golden Thread weaves an illuminating story of human ingenuity. Design journalist Kassia St. Clair guides us through the technological advancements and cultural customs that would redefi ne human civilization--from the fabric that allowed mankind to achieve extraordinary things (traverse the oceans and shatter athletic records) and survive in unlikely places (outer space and the South Pole). She peoples her story with a motley cast of characters, including Xiling, the ancient Chinese empress credited with inventing silk, to Richard the Lionhearted and Bing Crosby. Offering insights into the economic and social dimensions of clothmaking--and countering the enduring, often demeaning, association of textiles as "merely women's work"--The Golden Thread offers an alternative guide to our past, present, and future.
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Alt Text: The cover of the book "The Golden Thread" by Kassia St. Clair. The background is a piece of cream textile with a blue embroidered border and blue embroidery of different cultures generally sprinkled everywhere.

30/10/2020

Statistics Show: Roughly 70% of all LORT Costume Designers are Womxn.⁠⠀
Statistics Show: The higher the pay, the fewer female-identifying costume designers.⁠⠀
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In Porsche McGovern's study of "Who Designs and Directs in LORT Theatres by Pronoun", she discovered that there were more designers that use he/him pronouns in LORT A+ and LORT A theatres than there were in LORT C and D theatres. ⁠⠀
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29/10/2020

Statistics Show: Roughly 70% of all LORT Costume Designers are Womxn.
Statistics Show: The higher the pay, the fewer female-identifying costume designers.
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In Porsche McGovern's study of "Who Designs and Directs in LORT Theatres by Pronoun", she discovered that there were more designers that use he/him pronouns in LORT A+ and LORT A theatres than there were in LORT C and D theatres.

27/10/2020

Women's Work by Elizabeth Wayland Barber, talks about how garment and cloth making has been virtually ignored by Archaeologists and Anthropologists, due to the fact that most of it has disintegrated and the lack of records on the work women do. In order to understand the concept of Feminized Labor, we have to understand how it began. The patriarchy.
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Alt Text: The cover of the book "Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years" accompanied with an image in the style of Greek vases of women spinning and weaving.

25/10/2020

Statistics Show: Costume Designers are able to take on fewer shows a year than our Design counterparts.
Why? Because the workload of a Costume Designer is heavier than in other disciplines, and is often less supported than other designers.
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23/10/2020

Misconception #2: Costume Designers have wage parity with other designers.⁠⠀
Truth #2: Costume Designers are often given less support and are expected to be their own technician.⁠⠀
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Equity amongst designers isn't just about wages. It is also about the amount of support costume designers receive in comparison to other designers. ⁠⠀
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09/10/2020

Fun Fact: Before the new minimum wage kicked in, the starting rate for a stitcher in a NYC Broadway Costume Shop was as low as $11/h (2013)⠀
Fun Fact: The starting wage for a carpenter Off-Broadway was $20/h⠀
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