Jobs in Costume Design - interview with Lucio Boliver - Brief Article - Interview

Dance Magazine, Nov, 1999 by Don Mirault

Excuse the pun, but costume design has been the perfect fit for many talented and artistic dancers. Costume design and dance have had a love affair since the first steps were choreographed. Many dancers will tell you that the emotion of a routine is not set in stone until the routine has been performed in costume. Dancers don't just cross the stage in costume, as actors do--they lift, leap, and turn.

A case in point is former dancer and costume specialist Lucio Boliver, now a designer, wardrobe consultant, and the president of Dynamix, a costume-building company based in Las Vegas. Boliver has created costumes for shows all around the world, from Atlantic City to Las Vegas, South America to Asia. He has designed costumes for shows such as "Imagine" in Las Vegas, "Masquerade" in Tokyo, and "Glamour" on the Crown Princess Cruise Lines. An exceptionally talented man, his dance experiences and girl for costume design have helped him to understand the practicality and movement needed in a dance costume.

Dance Magazine: What advice would you offer someone in dance who is interested in pursuing a career in costume design?

Lucio Boliver: Find someone you can assist. Soak up as much experience as you can from people who are already in the costume area of show business. Go to fabric stores and learn about different types of materials--even if you don't quite know what you're looking at, just get familiar with a variety of fabrics.

D.M. What special skills does a designer need?

L.B. There are several. Certainly, an important one is knowing how to draw. If you don't have a talent for drawing, take art classes with the same concern you show for dance classes. Learn to draw as well as you can. And concentrate on drawing the human body, as much as on drawing clothes and costumes.

Here's an important point concerning drawings and sketches: Some fashion designers are wonderful artists, and their drawings look terrific, but when you start moving in their costumes, it's a different story. When you are designing a costume for the stage, especially if it's a costume for dancers, never forget that the costume is going to move.

Knowing how to sew is essential, too, because designers need to know all they can about the actual physical properties of a costume. This helps them a great deal in designing; for example, knowing how different fabrics move or don't move on the body.

D.M. Fortunately, dancers are used to sewing; they are always doing something to their shoes or costumes or dance gear. What else should they study?

L.B. Frankly, my advice is to study everything. Read books and international fashion magazines, study television, videos, and movies. Fashion is always changing and evolving. It's important for designers to change with it.

And study the history of fashion. Know the differences in fashion from different eras in history--the 1920s, the 1940s, the 1970s. You have to keep learning. You have to keep buying books. Ethnic books, theater books, art books, period books--even comic books. Use anything and everything to awaken your imagination.

D.M. Costume designing must be similar to dance in one sense: It must take a while before you can earn a living at it.

L.B. Exactly. You have to put your heart into it. It's not going to happen right away. Costume designing takes perseverance and, just like dancing, it takes time. Often it takes a long time to be really successful.

D.M. Dancers use a photo and resume to promote themselves, what should a costume designer have in the form of presentation and promotional material?

L.B. Some of their best sketches--pictures that look alive. I mean that literally. You have to physically create a few costumes from your drawings and have photos taken of them on models, dancers, or mannequins, when you present your costume designs, you should show the sketch as well as the photo to demonstrate how the final product will look. To show versatility, I would suggest that you do this with two or three totally different styles of costumes.

For example, one design could be very futuristic, one could be very traditional, and one could be very contemporary. Also, bring along a business card and a resume with several references. Once your "designability" is accepted, there are still basically three things producers will want to know about you as a costume designer: Do you work on time? Do you work within budget? Do your costumes last?

D.M. What else would you like to share with future costume designers?

L.B. If your heart is not in your work, you won't be very happy and you won't be very successful either. If you're going to do anything in the business, do it with your whole heart.

Although Boliver does recommend attending a design institute, he is a self-made costume designer: "I made mistakes, I learned from my mistakes, and I moved on." Boliver is currently designing costumes for a millennium revue in Atlantic City and a new Celebrity Cruise Lines production.

Contributing editor Don Mirault is the author of Dancing ... For a Living--Two.