By: Kristen P Ahern

Elsa posing with The Sex Issue of The Chicago Reader which featured an article on her work in labor equity. Photo from Elsa’s Instagram, used with permission.

To kick off our 2021 season of Conscious Heroes, I want to circle back to our first Hero: Elsa Hiltner. I’ve learned so much from a year of interviewing and writing that I thought Elsa deserved a more robust profile like many of the other people featured in 2020! Elsa Hiltner is a Costume Designer and Wardrobe Stylist for theatre, film, commercials, and events based in Chicago.

Elsa’s work in labor equity began as concerns about labor surrounding the clothes that she buys and wears. Like many people in the sustainable fashion world, the Rana Plaza disaster in April 2013 was a moment of awakening. Elsa read books about the changing fast fashion industry (Overdressed) and gender issues in the evolution of clothing (Sex and Suits) and looked for a way to get involved with labor in the garment industry. She searched for information specific to the costume industry, recognizing how the gendered and exploitative pay in the garment industry was reflected in theatre but couldn’t find any resources so she took it upon herself to begin writing.

Elsa published her first article, “A Call for Equal Support in Theatrical Design,” in Howlround as that seemed like the type of platform where people would be receptive to what she researched. Since I last shared Elsa’s work, she has written two additional articles for Howlround: “Inequity by Design” and “Pay Equity: What’s in it for Theatre Companies?” Elsa continued working with Howlround for the subsequent articles because it is easy to submit ideas and she was already familiar with the process. Elsa finds many ways that her design skills translate over into this writing and activism. As many of us have discovered in this last year, our skills can be repurposed in new ways. Writing an article has a flow similar to the design process, how each article feeds into the next, in the research and mental (and physical!) organizing during the prep work.

In her latest article: “Pay Equity: What’s in it for Theatre Companies?” Elsa sets out to make the case that companies, not just individuals, benefit from pay equity. Aside from the fact that we should all care about each other and not exploit fellow artists (or other humans), Elsa’s research shows that people, including artists, do better work when they are paid equitably. She asked approximately forty-five Chicago local theatre executives a series of questions about how they define pay equity, what they see as benefits for enacting pay equity, what tools are needed to enact pay equity, and what their motivations are for doing it in the first place. Perhaps if the industry and artists understand these things then we can work on creating the tools and motivations for companies. I highly recommend a careful read of all of Elsa’s incredible work for more information about her research and conclusions.

One point that Elsa is always careful to make is that the onus should not be on individual artists to advocate for themselves but that the companies and industry need to push for collective, institutional change. So what can individuals do? Elsa says “Every time I take a job, I’m approving of a system, approving of the way it’s being done. So if people on the team aren’t being paid equitably, I’m approving that, I’m normalizing it.” This is an awareness that every artist needs to have, be aware of the collective power dynamic, who has the power to say yes or no to pay rates or contract stipulations.

One of Elsa’s early projects was the Theatrical Designer Pay Resource, an anonymous crowd-sourced pay transparency document with years of pay data from designers across the US, representing every major theatrical market. Elsa sees her activist role as starting conversations; that asking questions to encourage people to talk and think is her main organizing strategy. Besides writing, her latest project is On Our Team, which Elsa co-founded one year ago, with Bob Kuhn, Christine Pascual, and Theresa Ham to address ongoing labor and pay equity issues in Costume Design and other theatrical design areas.

For many, it feels as if the theatre industry has the potential for a turning point right now. Elsa and I discussed the generalization that the theatre industry, as a whole, values cheap over good (or fair). This in turn is why society doesn't value art or theatre, there is little value placed on the skill, expertise, and longevity of the people involved. As a result, we are losing a lot of very talented people. Even before Covid, many found that theatre is not sustainable as a career, which is bad for the industry, the artists, and for the art. We have an opportunity to grasp the way that goods, labor, the environment, etc… are holistically connected and we should work for a society that benefits everyone so we can live in a safer and healthier world.

As individuals, we need to keep this conversation happening, continue advocating for yourself if you feel you have the privilege to do so, but also find ways to create groups where you can take a collective stand. Elsa found that her collaborative skills from theatre have been particularly helpful when working with designers around the country who are working on similar issues and how they can support each other and build off each other’s work. Two such groups are the Chicago Costume Community and the Costume Enclave in Minneapolis/St. Paul, in both cases, these groups are a community of individuals coming together to discuss costume unique issues and “lean in the right direction.”

The minds behind On Our Team. Left to Right: Bob Kuhn, Christine Pascual, Elsa Hiltner, and Theresa Ham. Photo credit to the server at Eleven City Diner, taken from Elsa’s Instagram and used with permission.

Elsa is already working on the 4th essay and I cannot wait to see how she builds on the powerful call for more equity in theatre! She is also now working as a pay equity consultant to help theatre companies establish pay equity policies. Elsa has been featured in The Chicago Reader, The Smartistry podcast, and will be appearing on an episode of the new podcast Dirty Laundry. Elsa was also instrumental in establishing Call Time, to cultivate and share mental wellness resources with Chicago theater workers while de-stigmatizing mental illness. She hopes to continue to push people to change how they frame pay equity, which is why she is our Conscious Hero for January!

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Puppet%2BHeadshot.jpg — Kristen p ahern

Kristen is the founder of Conscious Costume and a designer, activist, organizer, and educator in the Chicago area.

By: Kristen P Ahern

Kaitlin (light skinned woman with dark hair, gold hoops, printed black shirt) standing in front of a mural of the Earth with text “We All Live Here” Photo Credit: Tommy Kennedy

Conscious Costume is all about looking at the issue of sustainable and ethical production from different perspectives. December’s #ConsciousHeroOTM is Kaitlin Stewart of Windy City Thrifter! Kaitlin is a multifaceted theatre artist turned Eco-Stylist. With her overlapping skills in theatre and passion for bringing sustainable style to people’s personal wardrobes, she was the perfect fit for our last Conscious Hero of 2020.

Kaitlin brings a sense of joy to finding and using second hand clothing, she has a passion for social justice issues, and sees Eco styling as a way that combines all of her different loves and passions. When she is performing, she identifies most strongly with her character when she gets into costume, she doesn’t fully feel like the character until that moment and examines how the clothing influences her performance.

Kaitlin wearing a red dress and red boots. Photo Credit: Tommy Kennedy

Windy City Thrifter was founded almost three years ago when Kaitlin was looking for a focus for her Instagram account; a story to tell through her posts. She loves the challenges created by other influencers and sees them as an opportunity to create a “character” by shopping out of her own wardrobe. Recently Kaitlin participated in a “Wear your Weird Shit” challenge (by Amelia Hubry) which she particularly liked because it encouraged participants to wear things they don’t often wear, to look into their closets and create from what they already own. Kaitlin’s “Intention Haul” series is similar and she unpacks why she is picking items and how many different ways she can style it.

In fact, in closet shopping, or “Closet Remix Sessions” are where Kaitlin starts with many of her clients. Currently, Virtual Remix Sessions are how she is operating exclusively with clients. With a closet remix, Kaitlin helps her clients see the potential in each individual garment, more than they realized before. She wants her clients and audience to see how they can be more intentional with their clothing budgets and what they bring into their closets while achieving a sense of ownership over their personal style. Clients find joy in realizing they can do so much more than they realized with what they already have, that creating a new style doesn’t have to be tied to consumerism.

Kaitlin is a hero because she is bringing conscious consumption and costume design approaches to real world clients. She sees thrifting and conscious consumption as activism against the consumerist, fast fashion, capitalist system. Styling is a branch of costume design where the character is the client’s goal self. They seek out stylists because they feel stuck in their wardrobe or maybe they’ve experienced a major life change. They enlist the help of Kaitlin and WCT because they want to make this journey with intention. Thrifted clothing is one of the most direct (and often cost effective) ways to make a shift to more conscious consumption. Budget mindfulness is one of Kaitlin’s top priorities with her clients.

Windy City Thrifter’s styling sessions are similar to a costume design process, beginning with questions for the client about who they are and what their goals are in hiring a stylist. When it is safe to do so, Kaitlin goes to the thrift store with her clients and helps build full looks to try on in the dressing rooms in order to elevate their wardrobes to reflect who they want to be. At the store, Kaitlin always pulls one wild card piece that’s a little “out there” for what was described and says that clients often end up buying that piece. She focuses on how they “feel” in the clothes more than how she feels they look, her goal is to give clients ideas of how to wear the pieces and feel a sense of ownership over their style. She says it is rebellious to simply take ownership over how you present yourself to the world and to do it in new and exciting ways!

Kaitlin wearing short denim skirt and tied orange cardigan with matching orange mask. Photo Credit: Tommy Kennedy

Kaitlin’s work is trying to encourage a more positive narrative around thrifting. For many people, thrifting can be an overwhelming experience or could have negative connotations about quality or cleanliness. To offset a discouraging outlook on thrifting, Kaitlin advises going with a plan and clear list to help cut through the excess noise in a thrift store and help maintain focus. Many thrift stores are color coded and it helps to go directly to the size and color that you are looking for and not to cast too wide a net. If you can scan the rack for the type of fabric you are looking for or another key feature of that garment (weight, hem length, etc…), you can shorten your trip and maintain energy for a positive experience.

This applies to costume design also, do not try to tackle your entire shopping list at the thrift store but narrow it down to what you are most likely to find and group it by type of garment and store section to streamline your shopping trip. Kaitlin also recommends checking outside your normal size section since often things get moved and commercial sizing can be variable.

Windy City Thrifter’s social media remains a source of inspiration and joy and I encourage you to check it out. Kaitlin is reshaping how her eco styling clients think about consumerism, one wardrobe at a time. Her work is a key bridge between eco fashion designers, costume designers, and the general public.

Her dedication to consuming with intention and being creative with clothing makes her December’s #ConsciousHeroOTM.

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