Theatre Costume Design Alumnus Enrique Solana Creating Custom Designs in DTLA
Enrique Solana graduated from the Advanced Study Theatre Costume Design Program this quarter and recently started assisting designer Mindy L’Amour with construction and finishing work on custom clothing for drag queens. Mindy is expanding her business by launching a ready-to-wear collection which debuted at Ru Paul’s DragCon this past weekend at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Mindy’s custom clients include the Boulet Brothers, the hosts of the reality TV series Dragula in its second season on Amazon. We caught up with Enrique to find out more.
Tell us a little about your work with Mindy L'Amour: I work as an independent contractor for Mindy's private client work, taking on much of the construction behind pieces that Mindy has designed for them. It is very collaborative work which I love, and it provides me with constant variation from project to project, which is both part of the fun and the challenge. Some days I am draping and patterning a garment, some days I'm working the fittings and adjusting the garments before finishing them. While some requests are custom contemporary garments, quite a few of the clients that we work with are drag queens, which provides for more elaborate costume and performance based pieces, at the same time that we make a lot of historically inspired silhouettes as well. I've had the opportunity now to work with one of Mindy's clients, the Boulet Brothers who are nightlife producers here in DTLA and the creators of the The Boulet Brother's Dragula: Search for the World's Next Drag Supermonster. They are now in the process of casting and production of their third season, with the first two available on Amazon. This work with Mindy is especially exciting for me because its a meeting point of several of my interests, from drag queens, to performance art costuming, to tailoring and custom design work, and really allows me to utilize a range of skills. On top of this client work, the Mindy L'Amour drag queen line Mindy created has just been launched and is now available at MindyLAmour.com.
Tell us a little about yourself and the path that led you to the Theatre Costume Design Program at FIDM: I'll start with the FIDM Basics—I am 21 years old, born and raised in Oregon City, OR, near Portland, and I studied in the two-year Fashion Design program before my year in the Advanced Study in Theatre Costume Design.
The path that led me to FIDM was largely due to support from my family, helping and allowing me to explore something that I had interest in and a desire to make a career out of, designing costumes. When I was entering into high school, I found inspiration for the art I was making in the film costumes I was seeing. After a suggestion from my aunt who lives and works here in Los Angeles, I came to visit and tour a couple schools my freshman year. FIDM felt like the Goldilocks option, where the majors it allowed me to explore and study in costume, while prefacing that with a background in fashion felt just right. I then spent the next couple years entering into textile sewing classes that were offered at my school, joining the drama department as one of their costumers, and eventually becoming quite at home in the world of theater. In my senior year I shadowed a theater costume designer which gave me a very realistic perspective of what goes on behind the curtain, and the summer after worked on set with another costume designer on an indie film shot in portland titled Zilla and Zoe (2017). By the time I got to FIDM, I already had a sampler of experience under my belt and knew that the hands-on historical crafting of the Theatre Costume Design Program was the right choice for me.
What do you love about costume design? It’s probably the part that is most important for a costumer, which is being able to create the story the costumes tell. Costumes can often tell stories all without words, making us feel and react in ways that connect us to a story on a deeper, more emotional level.
What inspires your designs? Change and metamorphosis in a character’s development, how the costume shows where a person is, where they are going, and how far they've come is often at the heart of my designs for a costume. That and the little bits of history or environmental references that you find through research that really takes the audience into the story and into that world.
Any advice for someone considering studying Theatre Costume Design at FIDM? I would really emphasize to anyone studying costume, but especially for those who are considering the Advanced Study in Theatre Costume, to let yourself explore and dive in to the research. To some it may seem boring, but references whether creative or historical really enable you to have a more creatively rich design, gives you glimpses of history, and can often make a huge difference in the final product. On top of that, be open to change and variation, and to the best of your ability be prepared for what follows. In the world of costuming, an entire scene or character can be cut in a moment’s notice, or have a costume not work in that moment. Stay flexible to change, and know what’s historically correct when it comes. Good luck.
What is your biggest goal right now? On of launching my website to feature my design work and open costume piece commissions, I am working on expanding my experience in more union status productions in film and television as well as theater.
Anything else you’d like to share? Thank you so much for this opportunity, as I also have FIDM to thank for the past three years of my experience. If anyone has questions or would like to contact me, they can reach me by email at henrys2550@gmail.com.
Categories: Theatre Costume Design
