Clothes For The Job

Most of the time, I don't go to a lot of trouble to prepare a look for an audition. I do what's necessary, but that doesn't entail procuring a lot of new items every time one comes up. Often something subtle and vague creates an adequate effect. They say that what matters is the performance. For what I do, it's my look, which would suggest that the outfit matters a lot, but that's only true to a point. I think that, at least. I haven't conquered this world yet, so I could be wrong.

I have a fair number of costume pieces at home to work with. There is a whole box of props and costume stuff that I am really only a custodian of, but in the absence of constant use for its intended purpose as a supply cache for comedy sketches, light use for auditions seems entirely reasonable to me. I've used things from it to great effect in the past, including part of a nurse uniform that I wore in one of the commercials that I booked.

For an audition I had today, I was called upon to dress as a scientist. Wearing a suit jacket with slacks seemed possible, but not ideal. I reasoned that there would be plenty of things in the future that would call for a lab coat, and so I resolved to buy one if one could be found at reasonable cost. Off I went to the thrift store, where I found that while there was nothing exactly like what I wanted, there was a white women's jacket long enough to be a lab coat, and close enough in other respects to pass. It was 5.99.

As I write this, I can't say how well it worked. Whatever happens, I may never be sure that it played any kind of factor. I do know that having it I feel a little more confident about the audition, and that can only be a good thing. For 5.99, that's a bargain. If I decided it was not worth having purchased, I could easily go and return the thing after the audition for store credit, which I'm certain I will sooner or later make use of. Perhaps I would buy something for the next audition.