by Tara Maginnis, Ph.D.
The Costumer's Manifesto is proudly hosted by OnlineCostumeStore.com 
your online source for Halloween Costumes.

Support The Manifesto! Buy Tara's DVD Theatrical Makeup Design or Buy Books & Supplies or get Costumer T-shirts at Cafe Press.

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Many of you have Questions.  I Don't have all the Answers.

I get about 105 email a day, about 8 of which are questions from Manifesto fans.  I can answer only a very few of them.   Time spent answering individual questions sucks away the time spent on expanding the Manifesto for everyone.  Many questions I don't have any good answer to in any case.  I'm putting up this page to redirect questioners to places where they can find answers more quickly, since even the rare questions I do answer are rarely attended to swiftly.  I work full time at UAF teaching and costuming, and my spare time is invariably taken up with maintaining and expanding the Manifesto.  I'm sorry about this (being the "Dear Abby" of costuming was fun) but I feel it will be best for everyone if I concentrate on the Manifesto instead of individual email.  

Someone who will answer serious costume inquires: 

    If you are a Jr. High or H.S. student who has been told you have to "interview" a costume designer or fashion designer for research on that career, please don't ask me for an interview.  I get one of these inquires a week, all requiring I answer a page or more of questions that require long, complicated answers that suck time.  Everything I have to say on the topic I post here:
    What Do You do as a Costume Designer for a Living?

    If these answers are not enough for your report, there are also a host of online pages of similar interviews with costume designers that you can mine for the rest of the information you seek, all linked from the bottom of the What Do You do as a Costume Designer for a Living? Page.  

    There is also now an online interview with me in

Literati Magazine

Google
 

 

You can support my site by buying products offered by my affiliate sponsors:

The Costume Book: The Non-Professional's Guide to Professional Results

Costume Construction

Costumes and Chemistry: A Comprehensive Guide to Materials and Applications

 For information about places where you can study costume design go here, USITT Survey of Costume Programs in the United States, also see the links on the Costume Shop Links Page.

 People also want to know if I will make them a costume, or have one for sale.  No, and no, but the people listed on the Costumes for sale and rent page will either make one to order or have ones to sell or rent.

You can also post a question (or answer) to my threaded discussion page where the Manifesto fans answer each other's queries

There are also dozens of other specialized costume eGroups and message boards where you can post questions. If you often have questions, consider joining a Costume e-list in your area of focus.  You can then get regular correspondence from others working on your types of costume.

My Advice and How-to links lead to the answers for many of you, both with pages of my answers and to outside pages that offer helpful advice.

Then there are outside pages of FAQ on a variety of costume topics you may find appropriate:

 

Costuming Made Easy : How to Make Theatrical Costumes from Cast-Off Clothing

Some of the most common Questions are who am I, where do I live, etc.

 

Tara MaginnisThe Costumer's Manifesto is proudly hosted by OnlineCostumeStore.com your online source for Halloween Costumes.

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This Page is part of The Costumer's Manifesto by Tara Maginnis, Ph.D.  Copyright 1996-2008.   You may print out any of these pages for non-profit educational use such as school papers, teacher handouts, or wall displays.  You may link to any page in my site.

This page last edited on 10/06/2007