Little Theater of Owatonna gets thousands of new costume pieces

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) -

The Collette Flom collection includes 4000 costume pieces, 250 hats, and 180 accessories with belts, vests, ties, and gloves; anything a show could need from nearly every period of fashion.

Victoria Bartkowiak, Executive Director of the Little Theater of Owatonna said “Purchased in 2016, Sharon Stark had a wonderful relationship with Colette who is a fantastic costumer from the Kenyon area. she’s worked with multiple theater productions and all over Minnesota and renting out these pieces. and so when she started to get to the point of retirement her and Sharon with that wonderful relationship worked out that we would be able to purchase that collection from her.”

Collette Flom passed in 2020, but the legacy of her handiwork lives on. Part of the collection is historic-- only to be used as inspiration, some pieces over 120 years old.

Bartkowiak said “She would be able to look at and take apart and pattern and then recreate in different sizes because of course, we’re not all a size zero any longer so she was able to adapt them into pieces that could be used for current day productions.”

This includes velcro-- for quick changes behind the scenes.

The theater was able to purchase the collection after a donation from the wenger corporation, with the intention they’d rent out the costumes in the future.