Fashion Friday: Meet costume designer Kari Drozd

Fashion Friday: Meet costume designer Kari Drozd - Buffalo News

glennmonera Haziran 05, 2021

Name: Kari Drozd, 35.

Who she is: Resident costume designer at MusicalFare Theatre, which will present "Ragtime" Feb. 13-March 17. She's also designing costumes for the Jewish Repertory Theatre production of "Talley's Folly" (Feb. 7-March 3) and the Irish Classical Theatre Company production of "Frost/Nixon" (March 1-24). She is the costume shop floor supervisor at Niagara University and costume designer and teaching artist at Buffalo Seminary. Her mother, who runs a hair accessories business, taught her how to thread a sewing machine when she was 8, bought her a serger five years later and encouraged her to create. The Kentucky-born Drozd was a premed student at the University at Buffalo, where she also earned a degree in history.

"I had a sewing machine and serger in my dorm room. I should have known that I was going to do something creative and artistic," she said. "But I apply my premed learning in ways I didn't anticipate. As a costume designer, it's good to know how the body moves."

Readers can keep track of some of her projects on Instagram @TrixieandBubbles

What she's wearing: A '50s-style sundress she sewed herself and layered over a pink petticoat. The playful retro patterned fabric by Michael Miller features kids in space. ("I love quirky, fun prints," she said.) She added mustard-colored tights and high-heeled ankle boots with star-shaped heels and studded "Pow!" and "Bang!" appliqués by Dan Sullivan, the London-born creator of Irregular Choice. Her engagement ring, from fiancé David Chandler, is antique. Her dangling earrings have stars on them, in keeping with the space theme.

Signature pieces: Dresses (and she owns many of them, both vintage and handmade). "I find it's an easy outfit. Just throw it on and add some fun shoes," she said. The costume room is quite warm so she often goes sleeveless, even in the winter.

Fashion statement: "I like 'slow' fashion (as opposed to fast fashion), either something vintage that's been around a long time or something handmade that takes time to make," said Drozd, who sews with commercial patterns but does pattern drafting as well.

Last purchase: Probably shoes. "No one would be surprised by that," she said.

In the market for: Who knows? "I don't go looking for stuff for myself," she said. But as a costume designer who shops estate sales and thrift shops, she might stumble across something she can't resist.