Articulations

Fallen Star

Sometimes the brightest objects in the firmament fall to Earth, and so it is with Star Costume & Clothier Inc. The company founded by Meredith Moseley, Kari Perkins, and Marcia Evers, which has provided costume design and construction services for dozens of theatre, film, opera, and dance productions over the last three years, closed its doors last week. In its brief life, the company was responsible for some 40 stage productions as diverse as Salvage Vanguard Theater's Tilt Angel and Second Youth Family Theatre's adaptation of The Hobbit, the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin's The Pirates of Penzance and ethos' Hyper Zoo, SilverStar Theater's You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Sally Jacques' Scaffold Trilogy. And as if that weren't enough, the company was simultaneously pumping out even more high-profile work for the movies, including doing custom-fitting work on Alan Parker's The Life of David Gale, making the "magnet men" outfits on Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, and suiting up Leatherface in Marcus Nispel's new version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Star also worked on both films that director John Lee Hancock shot locally, the Dennis Quaid vehicle The Rookie and The Alamo. Plus, the company offered custom bridal gown designs and an array of specialized costume services, from patterning and fabric painting to mask-making and prop fabrication, much of it available on an emergency basis. The key to Star's success was having all this expertise available under one roof (that roof being at the former bakery turned arts center on Tillery in East Austin). But despite the steady stream of work and favorable press, such as Marc Savlov's recent Chronicle feature ("Outfitting the Stars," June 13), the operation was unable to stay aloft. Over the weekend, Star held a going-out-of-business sale. Future plans for the company partners were not available at press time, but they will be reported as information becomes available.