Gloria's Costume Designer

Jessica Jahn

Costume Designer Jessica Jahn. doodled for you this morning by Katie O’Neill

“There are a lot of us.”

Dancers do a pretty pivot to costume design frequently. It is logical that a dancer, more than most performers and certainly more than the rest of us, would be an expert on the mechanics of clothing. When I met Jessica Jahn in 2005 she explained her trajectory from dancer to designer. That was a long time ago, so I can only use quotes in good faith for that first line she said to me. But my impression of that conversation was that there was more to that natural progression than just knowing of the effect of underarm seams on shoulder rotation.

Costume Designs by Jessica Jahn, illustrated by Dan Wang for a San Francisco Opera production of Orfeo and Eurydice. In the interview that you can watch on youtube she talks about designing with movement in mind.

We had that conversation standing on opposite sides of a doorframe. Two friends who lived in side by side apartments on the top floor of a house were throwing a party. So, the party had significant spill into the hallway and stairwell. I think I never made it into the actual apartment that night. Before I could enter, an actor who I had made fast …