A small theater group has decided to tackle the movie "Tootsie", where Dustin Hoffman played a woman. They have asked if I could make some of the costumes. If I'm going to make a dress for a man using DS8 Pro should I measure using the man settings in the program or the woman settings? Are there any particular settings and measurements I should pay special attention to?

Thanks,
Mr. Pat

I would put in male settings. Even though the costume is female, the part will be played by a male and therefore male dimensions (broader shoulders, wider chest, narrower hips, will make the costume more comfortable for the actor.

Hi Mr Pat- men's settings will NOT get darting and I presume the actor will have female attributes theru padding/falsies front and back to create female shapes..
use womens
Kaaren

quote:

A small theater group has decided to tackle the movie "Tootsie", where Dustin Hoffman played a woman. They have asked if I could make some of the costumes. If I'm going to make a dress for a man using DS8 Pro should I measure using the man settings in the program or the woman settings? Are there any particular settings and measurements I should pay special attention to?

I would measure with male settings so you get a costume that mostly fits the actor's body, but be sure to add bust room as Dustin added some prosthetic help in that area to complete his costume. Start with a man's chart and draft a fitted blouse. Notice you have no bust dart.

Now, edit your chart and make Bust Front larger than High Bust. The bigger the difference, the bigger the bust dart and the more room you have for phony implants.

Hope that makes sense. If there were other body adjustments that Tootsie used, I don't remember them. Hip shaping, perhaps?

Thank you to all of you who responded. I haven't decided I want to do this project because it does have a rather short time limit in which the costumes would have to be ready.