Costumes need to be kept clean, well aired, away from moisture and dust, and in the dark. It’s best to have a separate area for storage, not in the shop or the laundry area and not down in the basement with the scenery. A clean, dry room with no windows would be ideal for hanging storage with some shelves for boxed storage. The best storage situation I ever had was exactly that and it was right next to the costume shop. It was ideal! The worst costume storage I ever saw was a section of the scene shop with walls that didn’t go all the way to the ceiling. The dust from the scene shop just drifted up and onto the costumes. It was hopeless. They should have just given the costumes away.
In the more normal situation you will have a better kind of costume storage. What kind of costumes should you keep and what should you recycle? I think that the most useful costumes in hanging storage are men’s suits. If your theatre does modern dress shows and most theaters do, you will probably have one or two men in suits for every show. I’ve used some suits over and over because they were a good size and in good shape. Men’s suits have changed over the course of the 20th century, but in a very subtle way. In the 1920’s – 1940’s big lapels were in fashion, but the 1920’s had a much more nipped in waist, while by the 1940’s the look was more boxy and double breasted suits were in fashion. Fortunately for us costumers the fashion designers of the 1970’s made many suits that were revivals of earlier styles. I’ve found some great suits at thrift stores that look like earlier styles but are really from the 1970’s. Suits can be altered to fit too, without looking too terrible. But it’s quite true that we have become larger since the 1920’s. Sometimes you just have to do the best you can with a modern suit even for a period show because of the large size of the actor. But suits in general are a good investment and a good thing to have in storage. Men’s shirts and ties and shoes also give good value for the space they take up.
I keep every scrap of vintage for storage, not that I may use it in a show but for teaching purposes. I really hate to use a real vintage garment in a show. They are too fragile and too rare. Otherwise for female garments I keep women’s suits, they are often useful, and wedding dresses and evening clothes. I keep some day dresses and maids costumes too.
What should you get rid of? No one ever has enough storage, at least not at any theatre I’ve ever worked at. I recycle things that I can easily buy at a thrift store; T shirts with slogans, sweat shirts and pants, athletic shoes, bulky, heavy coats, and I ditch the fur coats as well. I hate fur! I also get rid of specialty costumes at Halloween sales. Believe me, the next time your theatre does “The King and I”, you are going to want different costumes. There was a good article I read about this years ago called “Throw Away Your Mummy Case”.
I love costume shops where the previous costumers have kept every scrap of lace and trim. Sometimes it has been just the thing that was needed for a new costume. But try not to be a hoarder of costumes that you make. I am very attached to my costumes so it sometimes takes me a year or two to see that I’m not going to use them again.
One of the most important things that you can do to maintain your storage is to clean everything before it goes back into storage. Then keep from cramming clothes together, weed out the excess so that the clothes that you keep have a little room to breath. Then just maintain absolute cleanliness and you shouldn’t have any problems with pests or mold. Mold is one of the worst things that can happen to costume storage. It’s hard to get rid of and it is so damaging to the costumes. If you notice mold you will have to take everything out of storage, clean everything, hang what can’t be cleaned in the sunshine and scrub the area with bleach and put fans in. Then figure out where the moisture is coming from and remedy it before you put the costumes back in. Whew! That’s a load of work!
I hate shoes, I can’t tell you how much I hate trying to fit shoes on people and they are tough to store in a way that makes them easy to find again. The best storage system I ever worked with was a wall of narrow shelves that were built specially for shoes, just 10” deep and 5” high, they could hold a lot of shoes. In that shop we stored the shoes heel to toe so that you could see exactly what they looked like and we labeled all the shelves with the size. I think that was so much better than the way it is in most shops, having them all in boxes or plastic bins. It was better for the shoes too, it kept them in better shape and free from dreaded mold.
For your wigs, I think it’s best to keep them in plastic bags before putting them into a box. You will of course wash and dry them after they have been used. Keeping them in a bag will keep them from getting tangled. I’ve looked through way to many boxes of wigs that were just frowsy messes from being pawed through. Other than that just fold things, hang things properly, keep everything clean and organized and recycle extra stuff so it’s not too crowded to find things easily.
Look at how the Dutch National Opera keeps up with costume storage https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/03/world/europe/dutch-opera-costume-sale.html
Costumier 