Arts & culture, Campus & community, Performing arts

UC Berkeley’s 30,000-piece costume collection offers a ‘variety of weirdness’

Housed in two meticulously organized storage rooms in the basement of Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley's costume shop holds nearly any item a designer could ask for

By Kara Manke

A photo shows three colorful costumes that have been hung on mannequins for display, along with photos of the dramatic production that each costume appeared in. — Sparks selected a series of costumes to showcase how her team uses a rich variety of materials and processes to help bring characters to life on stage. The bright printed suit on the left, bought for less than $100 on Amazon, was meant to mimic an expensive brocaded fabric, and was worn during a production of the Molière play “Tartuffe”. The white lace vest top was also designed for “Tartuffe,” while the two dresses on the right were created for a production of the play “Metamorphoses,” and were designed so that the actor could wade through a pool of water onstage. (UC Berkeley photo by Marissa Guttierez)

May 30, 2023

A photo shows a rack of hanging hats that extend from eye level up to a high ceiling. — One of two costume storage rooms contains women’s hats in every conceivable color and style. The costume collection is located in the basement of Zellerbach Hall and maintained by UC Berkeley’s Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies. (UC Berkeley photo by Marissa Guttierez)

A large, two-story storage room contains racks filled with rugs, old furniture and other random items. — This former TV studio, now known as the “cage,” houses a variety of theater props, including rugs, old furniture, some costumes and even a model of a pig that was used in the play “Slaughter City.” (UC Berkeley photo by Marissa Guttierez)

A photo shows a rack of old blue Cal Band uniforms, which resemble military uniforms. — The collection includes old, donated Cal Band uniforms, which are readily transformed into military costumes. (UC Berkeley photo by Robert Sanders)

Alt: A photo shows a three racks of clothing, stacked one on top of another, inside a large storage room. — One of two costume storage rooms houses racks upon racks of hanging clothes, all meticulously organized by gender, era and size. (UC Berkeley photo by Marissa Guttierez)

A photo shows multiple racks of clothing, stacked one on top of another, inside a large storage room. — In the summer of 2000, Sparks led a massive reorganization of the costume collection. At that time, her team removed and sorted all of the clothing — previously stored haphazardly in boxes — and installed hanging bars and overhead lights to make the items easier to access. (UC Berkeley photo by Marissa Guttierez)

A photo shows multiple racks of clothing, stacked one on top of another, inside a large storage room. A large turquoise step ladder is placed in one of the aisles between clothing racks. — The first of the two storage rooms contains “anything from prehistoric times until the 1960s,” Sparks says. (UC Berkeley photo by Marissa Guttierez)

A photo shows a piece of paper that is attached to the wall with old, yellowing tape. On the paper, in type-written font, is a list of what types of clothing items can be found on each clothing rack. The clothing items are categorized by gender and era, i.e. one category reads “Mens’ coats (1660-1790)”. — A map and directory, taped to the wall of one of the costume storage rooms, help users locate specific items. “It makes perfect sense to me — it’s like a filing system,” Sparks says of the costume organization. (UC Berkeley photo by Marissa Guttierez)

A photo shows racks of cardboard boxes that are stacked floor to ceiling along the wall of a large storage room. Each box is labeled with a piece of paper that has been taped on. One label reads “Women’s 1980’s Style Knit Tops All Colors/Sizes.” Another reads, “Aprons, Gathered – Long.” — Additional items, including knits, aprons, tights, garters and undergarments, are stored in labeled cardboard boxes. (UC Berkeley photo by Marissa Guttierez)

A photo shows racks of different types of shoes that are stacked floor to ceiling along the wall of a large storage room. — Behind the clothing racks, a wall of shelves is filled to the brim with different types of shoes. (UC Berkeley photo by Marissa Guttierez)

Inside a closet storage room that is filled with different pieces of costuming, a woman wearing a face mask holds a bright blue piece of costume chest armor and points to a detail in the material. — At the back of the first storage rooms is a small closet filled with boots, vests, helmets and other types of costume armor, which costume director Wendy Sparks, pictured here, calls “the armory.” (UC Berkeley photo by Robert Sanders)

A photo shows a rack of hanging ties of all colors that extend along the wall of a storage room. A paper sign taped above the ties reads “Square Ties, Solid, All colors.” — Below the hats hang a colorful array of ties, arranged by size. (UC Berkeley photo by Marissa Guttierez)

A photo shows a variety of scissors in different shapes and sizes that have been hung from a corkboard. — A collection of scissors, started by Berkeley’s first costume director, Shan Otey. (UC Berkeley photo by Marissa Guttierez)

A photo of an actor wearing one of Sparks’ costumes onstage during a performance of Marat/Sade. — A photo of one of Sparks’ costumes onstage during a performance of Marat/Sade. (UC Berkeley photo by Marissa Guttierez)

A photo shows a sturdy sewing machine and a large blue pin cushion that is filled with pins. — Costume designs are brought to life in a sewing room located on the top floor of Zellerbach. (UC Berkeley photo by Marissa Guttierez)

Wendy Sparks is devoted to the art of creative reuse.

As costume director for UC Berkeley’s Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies, Sparks oversees a stunning collection of more than 30,000 costume pieces, nearly all of them donated, bought for cheap, or made from scratch using reclaimed materials.

Housed in two meticulously organized storage rooms in the basement of Zellerbach Hall, the costume shop holds nearly any item a designer could dream up, be it a vintage Pucci dress, a crown made of puzzle pieces or more women’s hats than a British royal wedding.

A photo shows a thin, flowy dress mounted on a mannequin.

One of the many unique pieces in the collection is this dress created by UC Berkeley costume director for a production of the play “Metamorphoses,” which was designed to be worn underwater while on stage. (UC Berkeley photo my Marissa Gutierrez)

“I inherited this. I’ve been working here for many years, and the people that worked here before me and started this whole thing — it was coming from a place of having nothing, and then getting donations from faculty and friends and staff that have helped build up what we have,” Sparks says. “We are now able to actually costume many a show with no money, but that means we have to get really creative, and I have to take things apart and rebuild them. We do things that aren’t permanent so that we can reuse them again.”

The collection was started by the department’s first costume director, Shan Otey, in the 1950s. Working with a limited budget and very few supplies, Otey started collecting donations from the military, including uniforms, blankets and silk parachutes, and using the materials as the basis for costumes.

“We had a lot of silk parachute costumes for a long time,” Sparks says.

Otey also started solicited clothing donations from Berkeley colleagues and keeping each costume item that was created for future reuse.

Nearly 70 years later, the collection includes clothing in nearly every style imaginable. However, Sparks still revels in creating new and captivating costumes out of unexpected materials, be they curtains or inexpensive clothing pieces purchased on Amazon.

“For me, it’s a game of How Cheap Can I Go and Still Have it Look Rich and Beautiful and Amazing?” Sparks said. “One of the costumes I made was from an old curtain from the forties. And it’s beautiful. Nobody will know it’s a curtain, but I know it’s a curtain.”

Sparks recently gave several members of UC Berkeley’s Office of Communications and Public Affairs a rare glimpse into what she calls the “variety of weirdness” lurking in the department’s collection.