If your costume closet is a mess, it might have a wonderful thrift store aesthetic. But you don’t exactly want to go hunting through piles of clothes for the perfect item if you already have it! That’s why having an organized costume closet is important for keeping track of your costume inventory and all of your options when it comes to picking out the wardrobe for your next big routine.
Organize By…
Find your system and stick to it! One way that we recommend keeping track of costumes is to organize by costume, then by size (smallest to largest). You might even want to organize by age group/competition level then by costume and size depending on how many students you have and how you tend to use your collection of costumes. Having a dedicated system will make it easy to find costumes and sizes, especially if you have costumes in dark dry cleaning bag that you can’t see through.
The “Most Used” Section
If you store costumes that are currently in use for performances at the studio, you might want to have a section in your costume closet for costumes that are currently in use by your dancers. This section would also be organized by the system you use to keep track of the rest of your costumes but would be in an easy to access location more suitable to high traffic than other areas of your closet might be.
Utilize Shelf Storage
Shelves above and among your costumes are great for neatly stashing bows, gloves, and other small accessories that belong with your costumes. Putting these items neatly in labeled bins will save you time when you’re looking for accessories and when you’re trying to put them away later.
Put Up a Peg Wall
Peg systems are great for storing all kinds of things, but they’re really great for keeping track of hats. Small hats can be stacked carefully in bins with other small accessories, but large hats and headdresses that you are worried about squishing can be hung up neatly on a peg wall in the closet or on the back of the door.
