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Chiffon fabric has been used for centuries as a luxury fabric in the theater production industry. It is helpful for today’s costume designer or stage manager to understand a little about the history, care, fiber content, and appropriate uses for chiffon fabric when considering it for possible use in a theater production.
Chiffon fabric is an elegant, lightweight fabric that flows through the hand like a breeze. The word “chiffon” comes from the French word for “rag”. Gaining popularity in the middle 18th century, the English word “chiffon” came to represent an ornamental addition to a woman’s attire and eventually it came to denote the silky fabric that we use today.
This fine, light-weight fabric can be gathered into a space just a fraction of its original width, which allows the stage manager to create drapes, and curtains that radiate from a single point outward. Likewise, chiffon fabric is excellent for veils and overlays because of its sheer, airy nature.
Chiffon fabric for stage and costume applications is available in a variety of fiber contents. The most readily available are silk and polyester. Silk is the more luxurious of the two, and the more expensive. Polyester chiffon fabrics are more versatile, in that they can be dyed more easily, come in a variety of stripes and patterns, and are also produced in several different weights. The polyester (and even cotton) chiffon fabrics are excellent choices when creating more ordinary folk costumes, such as peasant blouses, gypsy skirts, and lingerie for the less wealthy characters in the theater production.
Specialty chiffon fabrics, like crushed, textured, and sequined, are also available in a wide range of colors. Costume designers need to take care to change the sewing machine needle more frequently when using sequined chiffon, as the penetration of the sequins tends to quickly dull the needle. Chiffon fabric is also available with a velvet stripe or accent woven into the fabric background. This type of chiffon is most often used in dancer and ice skater’s costumes.
When considering the use of chiffon fabric, especially silk chiffon, purchase a yard or so, gather it in your hand to ascertain the amount of creasing to be expected. Stitch a few layers together, hem it, and stretch it. If the costume or stage application is to be dyed or adorned in some way, test the sample piece by doing the same application to it as you will be doing to the final product. Performing these tests enables the stage manager and costume designer to obtain the best fabric for the job in the most economical way possible.
Silky in feel as well as in actual fiber content, chiffon fabric should be gently hand washed or, even better, dry cleaned. Sometimes chiffon fabrics are produced with a special starch, which may create water spots when the fabric gets wet. Testing a swatch for color fastness and shrinkage is always recommended. Dry cleaning can usually remove the water spots if they occur.
Costume designers and stage production managers, today, have access to the widest variety of fabrics imaginable. Luxury fabrics, such as chiffon, have been used since the 1700’s in clothing and accessories, as a symbol of status and wealth. Therefore, costume designers and stage managers will greatly augment the legitimacy of the more wealthy characters in their theater performance by enhancing their wardrobes with elegant fabrics like the graceful, lofty chiffon.
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