CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF GLADRAGS
1994
Vania Mills starts up “Shoestring Costume Project” in Bristol
with a couple of clothes rails and a handful of boxes, collected from her own costume work in community theatre. She shares
her resources, loaning costumes to local groups and charities.
Charity Action on Disability and Development
raises funds with an early form of
photobooth in Frome town centre, Somerset.
Avon Community Theatre devise "Out of the Shadows"
with the residents of Stoke Gifford council estates,
celebrating the heritage of a neglected Bristol suburb.
2001
Gladrags Community Costume Resource is formally constituted and Vania operates from an artist's co-op
in Deptford, London resourcing schools, community arts projects, fringe theatre and not-for-profits.
Ennersdale School, Lewisham, celebrate world book day with staged photos of children reading through the ages.
2010
Established in Brighton for 6 years, Gladrags is now run by a team of 12 volunteers, stocks 5000 costumes and a number of curriculum-based topic boxes for schools.
As our profile increases, we support city-wide community events. We also provide dress-up tents and Storytelling sessions
for small local celebrations and pilot our first children's workshops: Victorian Zoetrope and Pin-Hole Photography.
Closing the streets with a little wizardry for Brighton car-free day.
Moulsecoomb Primary School Victorian dressing up and pin hole photography workshop.
Lewes Youth Theatre: students promote and star in their own film.
With the help of our topic box, Cottesmore Primary School put on an African fashion show as part of their Art Week.
"The Steamie" by Tony Roper
staged by New Venture Theatre.
Instant and interactive storytelling
and dress-up in the woods
at Moulsecoomb Forest Garden.
2019
Gladrags is a thriving store benefitting around 10,000 people this year. We stock 7000, mostly donated costumes and a wide range of Resource Boxes. We maintain costume quality by purposefully
re-homing under-used items and we encourage others to adopt our planet-friendly principles of re-use and the sharing of resources.
We take our costumes and our skills into the heart of our
community with an established outreach programme reaching
old and young alike. 60-70 dedicated volunteers across a year help us to achieve our aims and keep us moving forward, ready for the next wave of fantastic projects to come through our door
... looking for a bit of Gladrags magic.
Sea-themed Storybox visits Chomp Moulsecoomb,
the much needed holiday lunch club for local families.
Frow Show perform electrifying comedy sketches at
Brighton Fringe Festival 2019.
John, Helen and Len take part in our
Seaside Reminiscence with the
Bridge the Gap Group.
Coldean Primary involve the whole
school in their production of
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Staff and volunteers run a Christmas vintage stall from under-used garments at Gladrags, raising funds for our outreach work..