well there are some of those “gotta have it” items …. and these were one of them:
{insert pic of blue MaryJane clown shoes}
They were purchased from “mcprod” on eBay through their store, which has lots of reasonably priced clown shoes. One thing about the clown shoes - one size usually fits all - ROFL. These Mary Janes will Sooooo match my new “white clown” suit. I am making a traditional Pierrot based clown suit, as most of the rest of my clown couture is character based. It is not anything fancy, but a good durable cotton washable suit. I am going to make a detachable white ruffle collar and pompom buttons though. One of the lessons learned through dance costuming - make parts that are washable, and detache the glitz if possible. This clown suit is soooo ViviANN - it will be a quartered one piece suit with the division exaggerated with a very high waist to make the legs look even longer. I have a WAverly home dec fabric with a “shopper girl” theme with purses on it and great phrases. The purses and tops have polka dot and flowery clownish patterns. I want to put stripes in one quadrant in the legs (for lengthening effect) and dots in the opposite quadrant in the top, with a little white ruffle at the waist division. It will have the traditional ruffle-edge gathered at ankles and wrists. Now she will have the Mary Janes that will declare her such a girl clown even in the traditional white clown garb.
In my research, it says that the white clown outfit is usually the one that is more color coordinated, and often based on the Pierrot suit and pointed hat. The Auguste clown is traditionallly the loud, oversize, mismatched one. The character clown can be anything, but often is a caricature of some real clothing type or occupation. In thinking about my clown couture designs, I have very blurred edges on the stereotypes. All of my first garments were caricatures of fashion - but they all share a common color palette. As a matter of fact my entire clown wardrobe shares a color palette to keep accessorizing flexible. Although this is a characteristic of the white clown, I am using it in a theatrical design sense to create “high fashion” in my character clown couture. This suit I’m making is my first foray into the white clown archtype. However, I do foresee a need for a white clown suit - every clown should have their white clown somewhere in the closet, just in case. I already have my white clown face idea, muchisimas gracias a Mark Renfro.
I don’t have many Auguste-type outfits that are purposefully cartoony-clown traditional exaggerations. The zoot-suit frock coat we bought for the DaddyCati is definitely an Auguste outfit, and on me the frock coat is so oversize it makes me look smaller and even more sticklike. It could be a back up Auguste for me should the occasion warrant. I am thinking more on the felt coat I am planning - to make sure it is definitely in the Auguste type. It is a reversible two-color felt coat - charcoal gray and neon green. I think I will look at “The Greatest Show on Earth” again and see how the clown costumes play with the standard lines of mens formal wear to create a definitely Auguste coat. My intention was to wear it with my multicolored pedal pushers, which I still can do - either side out. However with a bib front and big bowtie, it could be definitely Auguste. This is why we have to find the itty bitty hat for the Daddy Cat’s zoot suit. It is definitely Auguste’s haberdashery.
I am most comfortable in the character world - no surprise, having lived there for decades. I think this is one way I can really help other clowns - to develop their unique looks in clown couture. I have so many ideas for my clown couture future. I am going to sell my own collars and bow ties as soon as I get my clown couture web site up and running. I want to write intstructions on how to design your own clown costume. How to modify standard commercial patterns. [ As I know I really dread sewing standard stuff to order ]
well gott go back to the ordianary world…. make a few phone calls.
