“What is often forgotten is that a person in the wardrobe department is often the last person an artist sees before they go on stage; as well as helping them change, they are the one who can help a performer calm down or alternatively put them on edge. The costumes are only part of the conversation,” began Go For Wardrobe Co-Director, Mike Bolton, discussing the role of the wardrobe department with TPi.
Looking back at the progression of the live events industry, we now have departments serviced by dedicated companies that never existed several decades ago, with video and automation being just two of the many examples. However, when it comes to the wardrobe department – an element of live touring since its very beginning – dedicated companies providing specialist crew are almost unheard of. This is something that Bolton is keen to change.
The company, which was founded by Bolton and his wife Hannah Kinkead, has been operating since 2017. Starting out providing local crew to aid wardrobe departments, it soon amassed a fully vetted database of almost 1,000 freelance wardrobe specialists. At the time of writing, the company is providing touring wardrobe crew for the likes of Madonna, Shakira, Rod Stewart and Billie Eilish.
Having worked as Head of Wardrobe for the likes of Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, KISS and Green Day, Kinkead is likely to be a familiar face to TPi readers. Bolton, meanwhile, has a background in the worlds of lighting and audio. “I couldn’t believe some of the horror stories Hannah would tell me about some of the local crew she was being sent for shows. The lack of skills and experience was astounding. It got us thinking that surely there was a better way to support touring wardrobe departments.”
After toying around with the idea, the pair finally launched the company, taking on their first major client, Lorde, supplying local crew for the artist’s UK run. “After that tour, we started to cast the net out to find more freelancers and very quickly we ended up having a list of up to 1,000 people that we fully vetted.”
Bolton was also keen to highlight the support that Go For Wardrobe had over the years from individuals from Live Nation including Andrew Craig, Max Burnham and Rik Weightman. “Originally, when we were getting our name out there, we spoke to a lot of promoters but in terms of progression, we always knew we had to start conversations with Production Managers,” he added, explaining that it was often a PM putting a head of wardrobe in place and finding the right person for that role was vital. “The majority of PMs we speak to do not have a background in wardrobe. We really wanted to help them find the exact wardrobe teams they needed, with the necessary skills for their artists”
Bolton highlighted a worrying pattern of some people within wardrobe departments getting roles due to nepotistic or personal connections rather than skill or experience. “You wouldn’t put someone without knowledge or experience in front of an audio desk just because they had some sort of connection to the band or artist, so why does it happen in wardrobe?” he said. “To work in this field, you need to understand the construction of costumes, how things are made. Often on a big show you’ll have clothes provided by a fashion house that are designed for the catwalk rather than live and without the proper adaptation and alterations they will not hold up.” He compared the importance of knowing how to maintain costumes to the knowledge needed by carpenters to maintain the quality of touring set and stages.
The co-founder believes the formation of Go For Wardrobe, has in some cases, changed the perception of the discipline with production managers. He used the example of the current Billie Eilish tour. “Nicole Massey, Billie’s PM, came to us ahead of the latest tour and explained the type of person she was looking for to head up her wardrobe department. We knew straight away Trish Forde was exactly who Nicole needed.”
While the company started in the UK, Go For Wardrobe has already expanded to LA and the founders are looking to grow the business on both sides of the Atlantic. “We are looking to expand the team,” closed Bolton clearly excited about the prospect of growing the team.
With show designs increasingly adopting a more holistic approach, with video, lighting and staging often spoken about in the same breath, it only makes sense that wardrobe is also included in the overall production conversation, and we at TPi, are excited to follow the progress of the hardworking crew in this sector in our pages in the future.
Words: Stew Hume
Photos: Go For Wardrobe
