How my love of history made me a costumer

There are many reasons I chose costuming as a career, but history and m love of it is one of the biggest reasons. I have loved history, learning about societies in the past, events, rituals, etc. since I was little. 

I devoured the American Girl series and did further research on each era (On a side note I would like to say how disappointed I am currently with the AG company. They need to bring back Samantha and Felicity. More could be said but this is neither the time nor the place). In high school I took AP history courses in which mu teacher connected events in history with artwork of the time. This opened my mind to the links between history and the arts. While in undergrad I took history courses as my "for fun" classes. I got strange looks from my classmates when I revealed my major was theatre. I have always loved history and learning about it. I believe through this love I found my other love, costuming. 

The two disciplines really go hand in hand. Most costume research is based in history, even if the play or movie is fiction or futuristic.  The costumer pulls research from eras with similar traits  There is no "history" for most fantasy settings, but there is history of the play, of the time it was written, what was thought of the world. These pieces of information help the costumer better realistically create a world for the characters to live in. 

I believe I may have also gotten into costuming as an excuse to do more historical research and analysis. "Then why didn't you become a historian?" you ask. I am a type of historian. I may not be an obvious one, but in theatre one must wear many hats. My history hat is one of my favorites.