Proposal for Design Irony

[MikeN]

As a huge uniform junkie, I'm actually all in favor of WGI-style costuming of the corps proper. I'm all for anything that adds to the show. The only caveat is that the uniforms also must satisfy the demand of viewers / judges in drill terms, which is a little more difficult when your audience is 30 yards away from the field as opposed to 30 feet from the court.

I wonder, though, if in at least broad strokes that colors need to be sort of uniform across even individualized costumes. I mean, to use an example from Brent here, folks were saying the Blue Stars' initial new unis (with the pant stripe) were causing visual confusion from a distance - now what if you had that plus 63 other varying shades, stripes and colors coming out of the horn block? I think that's one of the things that makes the Cavaliers so successful, uniform-wise. There's not a lot of up-close detail; instead it's all focused on stand / box level-view. So things are kept simple in large strokes. Same thing with SCV.

That said, I also think, though, that it's possible to achieve the same effect with individual costumes, as long as care is taken that, in general, X color appears in X location on everyone. What I like about your fantasy sets there is the uniformity of color - that would satisfy the drill requirements, I think, as would the matching headgear, no matter what style is ultimately used.

Thanks for starting this discussion!

Mike

[3rd&10]

Jersey Surf 2002

http://www.jerseysurf.org/content_images/2...c6b2cc3d8ffa02d

WGI has taken the design lead in the diverse costuming of a percussion and guard productoin.

One only needs to take a look back to SCV 1986 to see exactly what a non uniformed, full drum corps, would look like..

Scouts 1997 colorguard is another example of an OUTSTANDING non uniformed look.. (I had a hand on this one, I got to shop with Chad here in L.A. to costume the guard).

[jpaul]

Hey Brent,

Love the show concept. I can totally see how it would work.

As for the costumes - I love the idea in theory. In practice . . . I've seen this attempted on the field with mixed success. Much of the eye's understanding of consistency, uniformity, cleanliness and technique is derived from the effort to make all the bodies on the field look the same. Costumes that differ in shape, line and color placement would alter that perception. I once worked with a band that wore a costume (everyone in the same costume) and we were told that the kids had poor posture. After comparing how they looked in rehearsal to how they looked in performance, we realized it was the bulky, lumpy satin jackets that gave the impression of poor posture.

As someone earlier pointed out, the distance from which the audience views a corps performance limits how much detail they can pick up.

Nevertheless, it's a cool experiment.

[Geoff]

Um, yeah. Stick to uniforms. How in God's name would you ever communicate all that in a 10 minute show without heavy narration or handing out owners manuals before the show?

Absolutely no different then some of the "concepts" we see now.

[ouooga]

I agree to a point. I like that you had them all the same color scheme, so it would definitely look uniform from the box. My concern is that without actually seeing it from a box, what might appear as "not a noticeable difference" could in fact become a noticeable difference when seen against the other uniforms. Then the obvious answer is to just have "tiny differences" between the uniforms, and at that point I start to think "well, wouldn't it just be easier to have them all wear the same thing?"

Personally, though, I've always had trouble with the individual characteristics of a show. To me, a drum corps show is designed for the person sitting in the highest, middle seat. Adding a layer of depth for the front row just feels like it defeats the purpose.

[BRASSO]

I think these costumes are quite stylish.

One of the endearing qualities ( my opinion here ) of The Cadets, A.K.A Garfield Cadets is that one could look at a picture of the Corps in 1938 ( before WW2 ) in their uniforms and the Corps would look almost identical ( except Guard ) to that of 2009. Even the DM's uniforms have changed little, if at all. We are essentially talking of 75 years of tradition here.

Discussing a style change of The Cadets Corps proper would be like discussing removing pinstripes from the NY Yankees uniforms...... changing the Michigan Wolverine football helmut design...... or the Rockettes costumes....... or Santa Claus costumes being made with Santa in a new spiffy red Jacket and tie instead of his old Red and White costume he's had for years and years...... or The Boston Celtics changing uniform colors to orange and lavender, and instead of the Leprechuan they go with a Red Lobster symbol...... the Univ.Texas Marching Band displaying a uniform change made up of all orange colored jumpsuits, and dumping the white cowboy hats for Cavaliers style white hats with white plumes...... or the Notre Dame Marching Band discarding their tall hats and plaid kilts, for lime green shakos, and white pants, etc.....

If The Cadets wanted to chuck 75 years of tradition, then #1, #2, or # 3 would certainly do the trick, it would seem to me. I'd say go for any 3 of them, although #2 would be my personal favorite of the 3 shown here.

Edited February 2, 2010 by BRASSO

[BozzlyB]

Absolutely no different then some of the "concepts" we see now.

Yeah good point. Nemind.

[euponitone]

I think these costumes are quite stylish.

One of the endearing qualities ( my opinion here ) of The Cadets, A.K.A Garfield Cadets is that one could look at a picture of the Corps in 1938 ( before WW2 ) in their uniforms and the Corps would look almost identical ( except Guard ) to that of 2009. Even the DM's uniforms have changed little, if at all. We are essentially talking of 75 years of tradition here.

Discussing a style change of The Cadets Corps proper would be like discussing removing pinstripes from the NY Yankees uniforms...... changing the Michigan Wolverine football helmut design...... or the Rockettes costumes....... or Santa Claus costumes being made with Santa in a new spiffy red Jacket and tie instead of his old Red and White costume he's had for years and years...... or The Boston Celtics changing uniform colors to orange and lavender, and instead of the Leprechuan they go with a Red Lobster symbol...... the Univ.Texas Marching Band displaying a uniform change made up of all orange colored jumpsuits, and dumping the white cowboy hats for Cavaliers style white hats with white plumes...... or the Notre Dame Marching Band discarding their tall hats and plaid kilts, for lime green shakos, and white pants, etc.....

If The Cadets wanted to chuck 75 years of tradition, then #1, #2, or # 3 would certainly do the trick, it would seem to me. I'd say go for any 3 of them, although #2 would be my personal favorite of the 3 shown here.

You may already know this, but the cadets started out in gray unis, not maroon and gold. They also, perhaps more stunningly, performed in shorts, polo shirts, and aussies, of all things for a year or two, though not by choice. Lastly, there was a MAJOR idea going around in 2000 for the corps to all wear street clothes for the year (as the guard did), but it was nixed for ah....various reasons. So yeah, while i would hate getting rid of the uniform for good, its not like its never been considered or done before on the short term. Hell, I only ever got to wear the cheap looking bando version...then they finally went back to a good looking uni in 2007.

Edited February 2, 2010 by euponitone

[BlooContraGuy]

I especially like the Snare drummer in set two, and the two costumes on the right side of set 3.

Great work!

[KingDubya]

My one gripe with having differences in uniform across the hornline is that uniform drill (blocks, wedges, even the company front) may get mangled from a visual aspect. The impact of these style drill sets is mostly from how uniform the shape is and how everything locks from a visual standpoint.

If any corps/band were to adopt "costumes" on the field, I think there would have to be a complete overhaul of their visual design program to make it more WGI-like.

But that's just me.