Wardrobe Department: Joseph Porro
Entry #4

Saturday

I start the day at 9:00A.M. downtown at the wholesale district. There are hundreds of vendors and most of the goods near Santee Alley have that "twenty dollar hooker" look that the script calls for. I spend two hours buying big girl jeans and tops. He's a 42 chest so that puts him in the "Big is Beautiful" category. I have to add inches to his hips with padding and the same with his chest. The script also calls for long sleeves to disguise a needle infection. With the extreme Imitations I'm working with, I buy what I can downtown.

Next stop is Macy's in the valley. Claudia calls with our female lead's sizes. I jot them down in the parking lot. She's a dress size 8. I am pleased as I know I can get lots of choices in her size.

I go into the main entrance of Macy's and take the escalator up to the Studio Dept. This is a special department that caters to industry designers and wardrobe people. This is offered mostly in New York and Los Angeles because that's where most TV and Film production takes place. You can pull whatever you need and return with ease under this system and are billed at the end of a seven day cycle. I spend about two hours pulling at Macy's. I have women's suits in assorted muted colors that will work with our actress' skin tone. Silk and cotton shells are pulled to go underneath. Up to Ladies Lingerie for a couple of nightwear ensembles of robes, nightgowns and slippers for an "At home" scene. I also pull anything in a 18 for the transsexual character that looks like it might work. The pickings are slim. I am getting more nervous as I roll two wardrobe racks out to the car and stuff them inside.

So much more to do! Shoes for the Mother, women's shoes for the son. So I'm off to Hollywood Bld., the retail clothing center for every hooker, stripper and drag queen in Los Angeles! The pickings are slim as I walk block after block dragging bags of size thirteen shoes and undergarments behind me. I buy anything that might work for the character as his fitting is on Tuesday. I need to have a rack filled.

My next stop is DSW shoe outlet. I pull several pairs of low heel shoes for my Mother Character. Since I'm doing very classic suits I know they'll work. Now back to the Studio to drop everything off. I load the dozens of bags inside and sort them by character. We can coordinate them on Tuesday when my crew is back. It's 7:30P.M. and I'm hungry, tired and anxious. So home I go.