• Howick and Pakuranga Times
Its creator, Laura Doughty – a Year 13 Howick College student – is thrilled her Cinderella ball gown is part of the Christmas festivities.
Her textiles teacher Jeanne Cudmore is also delighted the design will float its way through Howick as one of the parade’s features on Saturday.
Laura made two Cinderella dresses as part of her NCEA textile project – the servant’s outfit and the ball gown. It was a year-long assignment, in which students had to identify and work with a client over 12 months, coming up with garments that satisfied them.
“I chose Chantelle Gerrard, who is a costume designer for The PumpHouse Theatre in Takapuna. She’s also designing the rest of the outfits for the Howick Little Theatre’s float in the Santa parade.”
Laura says working, and more importantly shopping, with a professional was eye-opening and “heaps of fun”.
“She was really good because she knew what fabrics would work well under stage lights, which I didn’t know much about,” says Laura.
“She would pick things out and ask me what I thought of them, and I’d do the same with her.”
Laura says she and Ms Gerrard had a similar idea of what they wanted for Cinderella’s ball gown.
Working on elaborate costumes, Laura has comprehensively researched 18th-century fashion to ensure that the dress is authentic to the era.
“There was so much research involved,” she laughs.
“I spent a lot of time reading historical and costuming books, checking out websites and talking to my client about what she wanted and, because she’s from a stage production background, she helped me a lot.”
Laura intends to study clothing and textile science at Otago University next year.
“Ideally, I’d like to work for a company such as Kathmandu, coming up with new fabrics such as Gore-tex.”
She has entered her two Cinderella garments as part of applications for tertiary education scholarships. Her Cinderella servant’s outfit, which she affectionately refers to as Raggy Cinderella, will star in the Howick Little Theatre’s free family day performance of Cinderella on December 5.
