Valerie L. Cavooris

In 1985, Neil Simon rewrote his most famous play, The Odd Couple, to have female leads: Florence and Olive replacing Felix and Oscar.  The play is teeming with contemporary references that wouldn't quite fit into a modern setting.  Instead of trying to force a square peg into a round hole, director Nathan Magee decided to set the play in 1985.  Creating 1980's costumes proved somewhat challenging.  The fads of the '80s tend to have clichés attached to them (leotards, leg warmers, and neon colors, just to name a few.)  I wanted to create costumes representing what people actually wore in the 1980's, rather than getting lost in the realm of Halloween costume stereotypes.  Special thanks to my student costume assistant Samantha Aurandt for all of her work and ideas!

Some of the stereotypical '80s looks, however, hold to be very true to life.  Wild patterns, off the shoulder sweatshirts, denim-on-denim, shoulder pads, and stirrup leggings all made it into the costumes for The Odd Couple.  Getting together to play Trivial Pursuit is one of the mainstays of the women's friendship. In order to demonstrate the importance of each friend to the group as a whole ("pie," as it were), I gave each woman a color from the game board as her "signature" color; I chose colors according to which would best represent each character.

Police woman Mickey wears her uniform throughout, as she frequently talks about work.  Olive dresses sloppily and comfortably while at home, sporting a side ponytail with her sweatshirt and leggings or windbreaker pants.  She looks put-together but hardly fashionable for her job as a TV producer, but she dazzles when she walks out in sequins for her date.  Florence's style is reminiscent of a Stepford Wife; she dresses very femininely, bordering on matronly.  When she enters in the first scene, she is the only character wearing a dress.  The two men, Manólo and Jesús, wear suits with flashy shirts and ties.