Bringing the Color to Seussian Costumes
Have you ever wondered how the costumes in ‘Dr. Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas!’ fit the colorful world of Seuss so perfectly? Read this article to discover the process of dyeing these candy-colored costumes!
Costume Painter/Dyer Mattie Ernst walks us through her process below through a series of photos of the dazzling world she creates.
All the fabrics for the Who costumes have been purchased white and then dyed to a specific palette of colors created by Costume Designer, David Kay Mickelsen. This helps to bring the Whos together visually, even though they are so many different colors, sizes, and shapes.
While we don’t rebuild most of the costumes every year, some items like the gloves and socks only last one run, so they must be bought new and dyed every time. I also dye fabric for the shoes, which are also re-built every year. Here you can see another article describing the process for building Who Shoes.
We did build a new Betty Lou Who this year, so I dyed fabrics for her dress and pod, as well as the accessories mentioned above.
I wasn’t around for the first production of Grinch in 1994, but the original Painter/Dyer saved swatches of the original dyed fabrics, which are a valuable resource to me and for the show as a whole. Fabric fades over time due to wear, light exposure, and of course repeated washing. When we retire an old costume and replace it with new, it’s often quite faded and no longer a good representation of what colors that character is supposed to be.
Below are fabric/color swatches for two Who Boys compared to Costume Designer, David Kay Mickelsen’s original renderings.
Each color in David’s color palette was assigned a number. This helps me organize my work and dye multiple things at the same time, which is so important in such a busy show! For example, Tiny Who (below) and the Who Boy above both have the same shade of yellow sleeves (#055) and Tiny Who and Betty Lou share the same shade of buttons (#845).
The Grinch is also dyed, but unlike the Whos, his color has evolved over time. The current fur is on the left, and the original version is on the right.
This year, we over-dyed an old Grinch costume to make it brighter as per the current iteration. Now Reed Sigmund has a second costume for two-show-days.
A big part of the dyeing process is being able to match color. Here’s a picture of my efforts to re-create the color of the Grinch’s shoes. Even though I have a wide range of dye colors, they’re rarely exactly what’s needed so mixing is almost always necessary.
I use six different types of dye in the course of my work; each has its own pros and cons, and only works for certain types of fabric. Those shown below are Procion dyes, which is what I use the most for this show. (You may be familiar with them if you have ever tried tie-dyeing!) They work great on cotton, and are very wash-fast and light-fast; important for a show that we bring back year after year.
I dye small items on the stovetop or in a bucket, but for large pieces I turn to our dye vat, which is actually a 60-gallon gas-powered industrial soup kettle! It takes about 15–30 minutes to fill with water and as much as an hour to come to a boil, depending on how full I’ve filled it. I believe this was a batch of tights for Cindy Lou Who and her understudy.
A few more images of the dye shop:
Once the costumes are built, they get a little Seuss make-over. Black painted lines give the costumes texture and bring the sketchy style of Seuss’s illustrations to life by creating depth under bellies and adding definition to buttons and bowties.
The paint wears off over time, so it needs to get spruced up every year. You can see that the lines on the skirt are pretty faint; they haven’t been touched up yet.
Once the costumes are painted, they are ready for the stage! — Mattie Ernst
Want to see these bright costumes on stage? Don’t miss Dr. Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas now playing through January 6, 2018! Get your tickets today!
