Hey y’all! I’m getting a lot of questions about why different versions of the same costume look different across productions! I’ll go through and answer those individually, but here’s a more general answer for why (sometimes significant) disparities are always going to exist:
There’s no standard set of measurements and proportions that will fit every queen in a role. Even if two queens might have very similar bust, waist, and hip measurements, they’re never going to have exactly the same torso length, the same bust shape or size of the actual cups, the same shape of the torso, the same shoulder width, the same inseam length, etc. (and no, weight is also not an indicator of visual size or shape - people carry and store weight very differently and people will almost never fit in the same costume just because they have a similar weight, just like people with similar measurements in one area won’t necessarily have the same measurements in another area.) Additionally, the body regularly goes through a series of daily fluctuations to measurements and weight depending on the time of day and normal bodily functions, while menstrual cycles can also affect exact measurements for the AFAB queens depending on the point in their cycle and how their individual body responds. It’s up to the costume makers to decide what the best fit and proportions for each queen are and to create a costume that will fit as best as it can regardless of those types of fluctuations over time.
Six costumes are all draped and fitted by different costume makers. The fitters’ own preferences and strengths and weaknesses (as well as their familiarity with the Six materials and how they move and the queens unique set of measurements and proportions), are going to lead to a lot of little changes: the way the costume is fitted, exactly where the seams fall, what the proportions of one panel relative to another are, how long or short a certain part of the costume is, the exact shape of one piece or another, etc. Even if they might seem relatively little, these differences can really change of the look of the costume.
Unlike some theatre productions, Six also *generally* doesn’t seem to have standard patterns that they then just modify by actor - they’ve used them in the past and some costume shops do still have them, but across the board all of the productions don’t currently use the same patterns.
As productions return after the end of lockdown measures, most productions seem to be moving towards having one main construction person per costume; that will help keep the proportions and construction of those costumes within that country more consistent, although as always they won’t necessarily look the same as different people will inherently need costumes with different shapes and proportions.
For an example of how even costumes with the same patterns and makers but modified for individual queens can fit differently, here are two examples of US Howard costumes:
First, we have Samantha Pauly and Courtney Mack’s Chicago/2019 North American regional tour costumes (photo credits at the bottom of this post*). Their costumes were both made by the Chicago Shakes Costume Shop. The patterns from the original West End cast were sent over and (sometimes significant) modifications were made from there to fit these costumes to the Chicago cast. As Samantha Pauly and Courtney Mack had very similar base measurements, the the mock-up for Samantha Pauly’s costume was actually also used as the base point for fitting Courtney Mack. You can see the alterations drawn on that mock-up and those differences in how their costumes are fit based on their own body shape: changes in the shape of the bust, the shape of the armscye, where the ribbons are placed. They shared the skirt. More generally the shape of their top are also a little bit different to accommodate for different torso lengths and shapes: Samantha has a longer, more tapered torso and a costume to match, while Courtney has a shorter torso and a broader rib cage. Even with standard seam/trim placement (center front panel, midway through the cup, 3/4 out on the cup from the center of the bust), the shape of the panels and angles of the seams are different to fit their different torso proportions. You can see how slightly different shapes and proportions and fitting can heavily affect the look of the costume even when it’s fit by the same costume shop, from the same base pattern, with very similar measurements.
Keeping in vein with the US Howard comparisons for consistency’s sake, these are all the Howard costumes we’ve seen on Broadway (minus Cassie Silva, because she used costume pieces pictured here and not fitted/constructed for her in the first place which means it’s irrelevant to this discussion; once again picture credits below**). These were all made at John Kristiansen, with Adam Stocker doing much of the work on them. There are some intentional design and construction changes, but once again you can see some slightly different fitting details: both of Samantha Pauly’s costumes have that longer, more tapered top; Courtney Mack’s 2021 and presumable 2020 alt costume once again have a slightly shorter, squarer top to accommodate for her shorter torso and wider rib cage; the Showstoppers replica has a very long, very tapered torso; Mallory Maedke has a shorter torso and wider rib cage, and that’s balanced out by a shorter and wider skirt. We can also look at the standard placement of the horizontal seams here and see how, even with the new 2.0/3.0 design that has different seam locations than the 1.0 with even less variation in the corset panels, there are still some differences in the angles and shapes of those panels due to the queens’ slightly different proportions. Once again, even with the same primary costume maker and studio, there’s a little bit of disparity both within how the costumes for the same people fit and changes to length, shape of the top and skirt, widths of different measurements, and cup size and placement depending on their individual proportions.
While I’ve mostly focused on fitting and shape differences, there are also two other factors:
Slightly different materials and/or methods of structuring the costumes are also used in different productions/costume studios, which will also affect the overall structure and shape.
Some costumes are much older than others and will have broken down more.
I talk about both of those more here regarding some of the Aragon costumes.
Hopefully this is a helpful, longer explanation with good examples of why costumes sometimes fit differently! I’ll get to those asks ASAP.
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*L: Samantha Pauly, Nov 2019, @/jennyandersonphoto; Top R: mock-up of Samantha Pauly’s design with modifications for Courtney Mack, @/cstcostumeshop; Courtney Mack, Sep 2019, @/courtneypmack
**L-R, 1st row: Samantha Pauly, 2020, @/sampauly; most likely Courtney Mack’s alt costume, 2020, Kelly Taub for WWD; Showstoppers display costume, 2021, @/theboycostumer. 2nd row: Mallory Maedke, Nov 2021, @/mallorymaedke; Courtney Mack, 2021, unknown; Samantha Pauly, 2021, unknown