ENID HOOPES ~ Costume Chat

The name's Hoopes. Enid Hoopes. 

Credit: Front of House Photography

This year I performed in an production of Legally Blonde: The Musical. I was super excited to be playing Enid- she is one of the 4 chosen law-interns at Harward Law School and has some brilliantly comic moments! Enid is a head-strong, lesbian feminist who takes a shine to defendant, Brooke. 

Enid Who?

Although a fairly small role in the film Enid comes into her own in the musical; it was fun to explore her whimsical nature and mis-fit personality; her inability to fit in at the start parallels Elle's character despite them being complete opposites!  She first appears overly confident and assure of herself until she is called out by Callaghan in Blood in the Water: 'You lesbians think you're so tough'. She is hard-working and eager to impress in order to secure a place on the intern list. She warms to Elle during Whitney's Party when Elle is dressed as a playboy bunny and likens herself to Enid's idol, fellow feminist: Gloria Steinham. Act 2 opens and Enid, watching a work-out tape of prisoner- Brooke, is love struck. Here we see a softer side of Enid- giddy even- still trying to show an air of professionalism in her intern position but showing signs that she isn't just a tough-nut! 

Costumes

Enid first appears in Act 1, Scene 4: Harvard Variations when we are also introduced to fellow students Emmett, Aaron Schultz and Sandeep Padamadan. 

The song Harvard Variations gives Enid a chance to really impress upon the group all her achievements and accomplishments. I hope I never forget this 'rap'. 

All these key phrases led me to create a moodboard on pinterest to help to define her character and her background that led her to studying at Harvard Law. Yup- I do commit myself to the role, I can't help it- I was born into amateur dramatics and studied theatre practice for 3 yrs- this is what I do.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/justuandb/enid-hoopes/


Enid Hoopes: The Student

>Her trademark jacket Field Jacket from Beyond Retro

 (but there are many more at a cheaper price available on the high-street) 

>Camouflage T-shirt- Primark

>Beige/Khaki 3/4 Length Combats- Yours Clothing  

>Brown (well-worn) Boots- Hush Puppies. 

(Ideally I would have worn black Doc Martens but I don't own/have budget for them)

In order to not ruin the jacket by iron-on patches I made badges using a kit from Amazon. I printed off the peace corp logo (aah its hidden in the image above) The current one is the pic above. 

I also included the pride flag, Wateraid, WWF, the symbol for feminism, an environmental logo and her Hogwarts house badge, Ravenclaw as a personal touch! Using bottle-caps I made Girl Scout badges. I assumed Enid had achieved the highest Gold award and had completed the Girl's Scouts up to Level 'Ambassador's' and got her 'Citizen' badge which is still in pride of place on her jacket. 

Accessory-wise I bought a 90s mood-necklace from Claire's, 

wore red Stila lipstick (I was channelling Miranda Sings's facial expression), 

round rimmed glasses from Claire's with the lens taken out

and a big khaki scrunchy from Primark which I used in my scruffy side plait. 

Our production was set in the present day however I think Enid is stuck somewhere between the 70s-90s. Her idol as quoted in Act 1, Scene 8 is Gloria Steinem who was a big leader of feminism in the late 60s/70s. I found an image (below) of 'Enid' (it's obviously not her!) from that decade and that became my inspiration for her outfit to Whitney's party. 

I used iron-on transfer paper to print the slogan onto a white Primark T-shirt- because I ain't paying $30 for that! It was much too hot under the stage lights in Summer for a turtle-neck sweater so I forwent that and paired my top with a sleeveless khaki green jacket we had in the costume dep that still showed off the slogan-tee.

I was finding it difficult to see how Enid would fair in a suit. So to help me see how her character and wardrobe developed I drew out my ideas. Enid is the complete opposite of Elle highlighted sarcastically in her first scene: 'Elle: Omg both our names start with an E...Enid: Omg we're practically twins!' so basically top-boyish, scruffy and no pink! 

Enid Hoopes- The Intern

 I did to a mood board of ideas too for 'suit-gate' as it became in my head! I don't own any of these images.

I wanted something different from the rest of the interns but not to distract away from Elle. In the end I wore black trousers, a plain white shirt, a green waistcoat from the costume dep and black flats. 

Here I am living my best life!

Credit: Front of House Photography

Here is the perm-to-wet hair moment Act 2, Scene 19: Scene of the Crime

I had a curly wig matching Chutney's pre-shower and then did a quick 'wig change' to the wig pictured below. Post-shower: This wig was originally another curly perm that I straightened and coated in VO5 'Wet Look' gel. 

So there we have it,  Enid POOPES (I'm so glad I didn't say that in performance)

I loved every single moment of the production and miss it dearly. 

If you're doing a production of Legally Blonde and would like some ideas for costume please feel free to comment below or get in touch. I spent many an hour looking for blogs like this so I hope this may give inspiration to those in an upcoming production of this fantabulous musical

Credit: Front of House Photography