Behind the Suits
The epochal style was chosen for the costume of the Hound of the Baskervilles, inspired by the character of Sherlock Holmes, among others. The range of costumes in the play is wide, and they are changed quickly – sometimes also on stage.
Theatre costume designer Elina Vättö enthusiastically accepted the job as a costume designer for The Hound of the Baskervilles. In terms of costumes, he is particularly fond of challenging and epochal plays.
Vättö began designing the costumes by reading the script of the play and wrote down observations of the scenes for herself.
“For example, I take into account how many characters are in each scene and whether the events take place outside or inside. I also found out whether the script mentioned things related to costumes, whether costumes are part of events, for example, and whether something is done with the clothes in the play,” she says.
The costume design started with the character and era of Sherlock Holmes.
“Genres immediately started to come to my mind, and through Holmes, an epoch was selected from them,” Vättö says.
“I searched for pictures of the era and got ideas about what would suit each character. We discussed these with the make-up artist, and then I made a proposal to the director. The final genre plays with the 19th century era through the means of theatre.”
Coloring is used to make roles clearer. For example, Sherlock Holmes’ costumes are a bit shabby and embody his character as a thinker. Watson, on the other hand, is dressed more elegantly.
The biggest challenge with costumes for the Hound of the Baskervilles is that the actors change their outfits frequently. The play has more than 30 characters, but only five actors, three of whom play more than one role. In the costume department, we had to think carefully about how to create the outfits so that a completely new character can be created by quickly changing the outfit.
“The technical solution of the suit was built around whether the change of suit is urgent, i.e. whether the jacket and trousers are fastened with a velcro or a snap, for example. Of course, professional dressers will help you change your outfit,” says Vättö.
“One solution is also to put several clothes on top of each other. When dressing in layers, the top garment must be loose enough to fit another outfit underneath.”
The Hound of the Baskervilles has been made use of costumes that were in the warehouse of the Helsinki City Theatre and have been modified to fit.
“We only ordered the fabrics for two suits new. All the other fabrics were found in storage, or we modified new outfits from ready-made clothes,” says Vättö.
When The Hound of the Baskervilles is eventually removed from the repertoire, the costumes will again be used for the next plays.
Due to the coronavirus lockdown, the costumes for the Hound of the Baskervilles were completed even before the rehearsals of the play began. Exceptionally, the actors were able to rehearse in their costumes right from the start.
“Normally, this is not the case, but actors seek their roles through rehearsal clothes,” Vättö says.
“All in all, the time spent dressing the Hound of the Baskervilles has been rewarding, and there have been hardly any boomerangs,” says Vättö contentedly, waiting for the premiere.
Text Tarja Rannisto