After completing the costumes, a small group of us decided to visit the Elizabethan Gardens in Plymouth for a quick, informal photoshoot. The intention was partly to begin documenting the finished costumes, but also to use the opportunity to test them in a more realistic environment. Wearing the costumes for an extended period allowed us to identify any construction problems that might not have been apparent when simply trying them on in the studio. It also gave us an opportunity to become more comfortable moving and working in them before the more formal photographs.
We probably caused considerably more confusion among the members of the public than we had anticipated. We effectively ran riot around the gardens, laughing, posing and generally making the most of the opportunity to wear the costumes outside the university environment. Despite the amount of movement, nothing fell apart or fell off, which I considered a considerable success given some of the concerns I had during construction.
I also managed to continue the ageing process on my costume, particularly around the hems, by allowing them to pick up dirt and moisture from the wet cobbled paths. This actually produced a much more convincing result than some of our earlier attempts at artificially creating the effect.
Although it was an informal exercise, it proved to be a valuable final test of the costumes. It demonstrated that they were functional as well as visually successful, and it gave us the opportunity to identify how they behaved when worn, rather than simply viewing them as static designs. Most importantly, it was enormous fun. After all the stress of designing and constructing the costumes, being able to put them on, go outside and simply enjoy them felt like a very good way to finish the process.
