By Anne W. Semmes
Caroline Oliver of Greenwich and Michele Rohr of Bronxville, NY have exceptional skills and a dream to take their successful Exquisite Costumes business – they have thousands of costumes to rent in their Stamford based office – national. “What makes our business pretty much unique,” says Oliver, “is we are in the process of photographing, measuring, describing, and uploading all that [costume] information to our online platform.”
“In the costume business,” Oliver shares, “the traditional way of costume rentals is they will have what’s called the landing page where they’ll say, ‘We’ve got Santa costumes,’ or, ‘We’ve got “Beauty and the Beast” costumes.’ And they’ll have a few pictures. But then you call, and you say, ‘I need blah, blah, and can I have it on this date?’ What we’re hoping to do is digitize everything so that someone won’t even have to call us. They can go onto our platform and say, ‘I want these costumes on this date,’ reserve and pay and check out, all in one seamless step.”
Access their website at ExquisiteCostumes.com and you’ll see they’re on their way. There are categories like Greek and Roman, Medieval and Renaissance, Victorian and Edwardian, Religious or Military, 19th Century, or the 1940’s. For Show costumes there’s “Grease,” “Legally Blonde,” “Little Women”, and “Oklahoma” to name a few. And Oliver and Rohr have seen many a middle school or high school play with the actors dressed in their costumes. That’s where the idea of Exquisite Costumes came into being.
“I started to volunteer at my kid’s school plays at Greenwich Country Day School,” tells Oliver. “And my first play was “Pirates of Penzance,” and I fell in love with it. I became absolutely entranced by the process.” It was that combination of historical research and taking that research and applying it to a child’s costume, she says, “as well as the collaboration of working with everyone else – lights and music, and other volunteers.”
So entranced she was she left a career in law behind and in 2018 kicked off her theater support business. Her first gig was at Bronxville High School and Middle School. “I was doing “The Addams Family” hair and makeup, and my second was “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” I wanted all these girls wearing twenties costumes – hard to find in the costume world, but I didn’t know anything about sewing.”
Enter Michele Rohr who “grew up sewing,” whose son had a part in “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” So, Caroline handed off a vintage pattern to Michelle, who was a volunteer mom, also working as a doctor.
“I’m a physician by trade,” shares Rohr, with over 10 years working in Brookside Gynecology in Greenwich. She had little time but offered her help with the costumes. “Caroline needed the dress, I got the pattern, and that’s how we met.” Rohr would then decide to retire from medicine to pursue a bachelor’s in fine arts, costume design, and costume technology at Purchase College where she’s now a junior, and extra busy with her first “official design gig” of “Orpheus Descending,” a Tennessee Williams play at Purchase College which opened last weekend.
So, what is the major driver of their Exquisite Costumes business? “It’s really reaching out to the high schools, and community theaters, and college theaters,” says Oliver. “That’s really where our passion lies. We’re not going to say no to anyone.” Such as those two women recently in search of flight attendant costumes. “They had been down that whole internet road and most of what’s available was not something they wanted to wear.” Oliver knew where to find the “great quality costumes.” “I then bought them and rented them out, and now they’re part of our collection, because we’re still building our collection. We’re always going to be in the process of acquiring costumes.”
Oliver tells a story that connects with Sophia’s of Greenwich known for decades for her costume rentals. “I had always had a good relationship with Sophia’s of Greenwich. So, from time to time, I would go to Sophia’s…I was costuming a play set in the Edwardian era. Edwardian clothing is very specific, very heavily constructed. It’s hard to reproduce unless you follow the steps. So, I ended up renting a third of the show from Sophia.” But this February Sophia reached out to Oliver with her plan to downsize “most of her collection.” Would Oliver and Rohr be interested in buying it? “So, we got together and had some talks, and then acquired a good chunk of this collection,” tells Oliver.
“When you’re in the costume design business,” Oliver shares, “You rarely make everything. In fact, you’ll only make a few custom items for a show…For “Beauty and the Beast” for Greenwich Country Day School, “I made 22 costumes,” she tells, “Which was crazy. That was because sometimes the director will want something…they have a vision. And then you have to translate that vision into a garment.”
Seeing the elegance of some of those Exquisite Costumes one sees a few with the rental cost of $200. “Those are our top costumes rent,” says Oliver. “That’s partly because there’s a risk of damage.” “And cleaning costs,” adds Rohr. “What we really hope is that people will take care of our costumes the way they would take care of their own clothing,” says Oliver.
“Doing these shows in the community,” shares Rohr. “People get a really high-quality professional costume that’s not so astronomically expensive. That’s what it’s all about for me. That’s why our focus is on educational and community theater. For high school and middle school productions, the skills that those kids learn on stage are life skills.”
“One of the perks,” adds Oliver, “is to see the transformation on stage of these kids. “And to realize that we are helping them achieve an artistic end. So, there’s an aesthetic aspect to it…to make them look beautiful if that is their character, or to make them look sinister, or to make them look whatever it is that their character is supposed to be.
“The kids are being challenged. It’s taking a huge risk. And that’s why I’m a big believer in the arts in general for anyone. Every once in a while, we’ll be working with kids, and that’s their dream. They want to be an actor. But for most of these kids, it’s an opportunity to really stretch…they become a different person because again, that’s theater. And it enhances their whole education. So, I would say that it’s really that sense of helping the artistic venture, being a part of it. And it’s fun!”
