Actually I did that one time it was fun and saved quite a bit of cash.

The German book mentioned above will be available in the spring according to the website:

http://www.quickchange.de/Quickchange-Book.html

At last this information will be available to all.

That will certainly put my plans on hold. I was going to get one made but I might wait and see what this looks like.
Nick

Having the knowledge in the book is going to be an asset to all. But having a costume made by a professional taylor with years of experience in quick change is another. Making your own costumes is not a good way to go unless you are an experienced taylor/seamstress with prior knowledge of quick change. Or you'll just be disappointing your audience.

Magically yours,

Matt Kielbiski
Quick Change Artist

I hope you don't mind Matt. I still plan to buy from you but would like to wait a bit just to see what I am buying.
Nick

No no I have nothing against expanding knowledge and varifying purchases. I am just saying that there is a drastic difference from buying from a local carpenter and buying from Owens.

Matt

Matt,

This book has something for everyone - including the close-up performer.

You are 100% correct that the best costumes are made by a professional, but this book goes beyond just giving patterns for clothes.

There are detailed training sequences to improve the physical speed, many ideas for different types of covers to be used, all manner of changes from single items to complete costumes.

For someone wanting to invest in a costume this book is invaluable and goes hand in hand with buying the costume from a professional maker. I am sure that this book will be the inspiration for many a new fruit and people will be coming to you Matt to have their costumes made up.

Oh wow, this is good news and long overdue. See matt, you should have wrote that book buddy, somoene's gonna get your money. (agreeing that to actually have it done it is best to be done by a professional)

I did not write a book seeing as I did not want to reveal my personal methods. I could have written one describing other methods but I did not want to step on anyones toes.

I look forward to see the book as well.

Matt

Just an update on the quick change book. I sent them an email and they told me They hope to have the english version done by June.

Someone mentioned a performer that spent like 30$K for the gimmicks and the costumes.... I think I'm the one...

As a matter of fact the quick change costumes (especially if they were made for multiple changes) are very expensive due to the fact that the best quality fabrics are used, you can't do them without a theatrical expert tailor, most of the work is done by hand, imense quantity of decoration (sequins, flitters, luminous fabric), the gimmicks (which are hand made too and are extremely expensive as it takes a long time to make them). We bought the act from Russian artists and Russia is about the only place where it is traditionally performed. We got in hold of the act as a pure matter of luck as the Russian artists will raely sell these secrets (and of course I would not sell this valuable knowledge for anything). It takes a very long time, even by a skilled professional costume tailor to make them. The choice of fabrics is extremely important (we flew to the other end of the world just to get the right kind of fabrics).

Once the costumes are made, it takes a lot of practice as the whole thing takes a lot of synchronization, speed and it all has to look natural. It took us a whole year (of 7-8 hours of daily practice) to learn how to perform it and perfect it. This is not something for a weekend magician or amateurs. For those of you who wonder why there are no resources on transformations, first of all, as I said, the secret is still very well protected and secondly, it is quite impossible to make some general patterns as even if you know the basic secrets of it, still every artiste has to rework it for their own set of costumes as they are always different (depending on the fashion, style of the act, etc). One performer uses longer dresses, another one uses shorter ones, one uses the latin costumes while another has the 20s' themed act, etc. Every time the secret has to be reworked and thus every one performing transformations has to add a little bit of their own knowledge into it.

The book "Quickchanges" is very good, I have it and I like it a lot, although our costumes work in a different way. I also have the Monica Monros' book and DVD and I must say that although some of you have a problem with the production side of the video, it is a valuable source as she has many nice and original ideas.

A nice male costume change can be found on the DVD "The Fielding West Comedy Magic Show", as his 200 lb tiger is actually a quick change routine that might easily be adapted to any performer's requirements.

Back to the Russian costume changes, it is a very original concept and somewhat different, but again I say it requires a lot of money and full devotion. David and Dania are the best example of this devotion as it is clearly visible that they are devoted to their Art to the maximum! Other good examples of the transformation acts are Duo Sudarchikowy (there are 2 duos in the family - Sudarchikows seniors and Sudarchikows juniors), they have perfected the art of Transformation to perfection (they have modernized the technical side of it as well and most of todays Russian quick change artists including David and Dania are using mostly their methods). Another famous Russian duo are Duo Monastirsky (they previously used to perform as a trio with amazing male to female costume change and several double costume changes). Other ones are the Minasovs, Two Svetlanas, Trio Mitin, Nina & Nikolai, etc. (I used to know more names, but they don't come to my mind now, I will post as I recall). Many of them perform in the USA nowadays, so you might get to see them hopefully.

I have the Monro's and I intend to buy the Quickchange Book.

I was at the Shriners' circus here in Maine last week when, to my great surprise, they announced the next act as David and Dania, whom I had read about in this thread--what an unexpected and delightful treat to see their world-class act! It is also nice to know that not all secrets are quite so easily accessible to the merely curious as is so much of magic today. As others have mentioned, they did multiple changes, some involving covers that were mere ribbons, one just confetti, as well as some associated effects such as appearing floral bouquets and so on, and all of it in the context of an elegant dance number. David had one complete costume change as well, and Dania performed her hula hoops later in the circus lineup.

I would gladly sit through and entire circus again with a rambunctious five-year-old and a restless seventeen-month-old just to see David and Dania's ten-minute set.

Glad you got to see David and Dania in the circus. It just proves that they can work almost anywhere. I have worked in shows with them in the round or on stages. It makes no difference.

They will be performing on Saturday night at Abott's. I talked with David last weeki.