Costume sale attracts crowd

Half an hour before the sale started, there were people waiting to get in. \nThe long line extended into the darkened abyss. The reward for their wait was a clothing-filled room with purple carpeting, poor lighting and green walls, or the IU Opera and Ballet Costume Shop Sale. The event was held from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in the basement of the Musical Arts Center. \n"We are required to take inventory," said Lisa Golda, director of this weekend's sale. Golda said the School of Music takes an inventory every year and about every three years it accumulates enough apparel to put on a sale. It discards the oldest items in order to make room for new merchandise.\nThe costumes are considered state property, so they cannot simply be given away. The shop has to either sell them or throw them away, said Golda.\nThe crowd varied in age from youngsters hoping to find an interesting Halloween costume, to college students looking for unique items to add to their everyday wardrobes. \nFreshman Alex Douglass sat in the corner with her large pile of purchases. She collects costumes like the ones sold at the sale and wears them on a daily basis. \n"I'm a bit of a seamstress myself," Douglas said. "So if I find something that is salvageable, I'll take it and either fix it up, or use it to make something new." \nThe sale featured things such as ballet shoes, tights, assorted dresses, jackets, shirts, pants, skirts and a few funky hats, with nothing costing more than $10. Items ranged from Romeo and Juliet-like attire, to Grease poodle skirts. \nFreshman Carole Goetz helped her friend Isabel Estevez, also a freshman, fasten one of the corsets. The corsets seemed to be the hot item. The two said they found out about the sale from an ad in the Collins Living-Learning Center newsletter. \n"I'm looking for something, possibly to wear on Halloween," Estevez said. "But most likely something that I would actually wear on a daily basis." \nDue to the limited dressing rooms, many people tried costumes on over their clothes. The couches lined along the wall soon became the drop off point for unwanted items. Rows of garment racks stretched across the floor, draped with old hangers and vibrant fabrics.\nAfter waiting over 30 minutes to actually get in, seniors Mackenzie Robinson and Rachael Forston, waited in line to pay. Forston said she found out about the sale after one of her co-workers told her about it and decided to bring someone along. \n"We are looking for Halloween costumes," Robinson said. "One of our friends is having a Vegas style party on Halloween and we needed something to wear." \nEven though they bought four bags of clothes between the two of them, not many of the items resembled typical Vegas style attire.\n"We didn't exactly get stuff to follow the theme," she said with a laugh. "But that's okay because we'll look good anyway."\nGraduate student Ben Aldred, one of the few men present at the sale, stood waiting in line as well. He said he heard about the sale through word of mouth.\n"I take part in a live role playing game with my friends, and this is a great place to find costuming for it at a much discounted price," Aldred said. \n-- Contact staff writer Lynndi Lockenour at llockeno@indiana.edu.