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Jacob Patorti, in a costume of his own design. The other costumes Patorti is wearing in this collection are also of his design.
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Diane Mott in the original Big Red Barn. Photo by Kristin Wessling Photography
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Diane Mott amidst her costumes. Photo by Kristin Wessling Photography
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Jacob Patorti as Edward Scissorhands.
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Jacob Patorti in costume.
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Jacob Patorti in costume.
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Jacob Patorti in costume.
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Jacob Patorti in costume.
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Jacob Patorti, not in costume.
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Jacob Patorti in costume.
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Diane Mott. Photo by Kristin Wessling Photography
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Diane Mott. Photo by Kristin Wessling Photography
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Diane Mott. Photo by Kristin Wessling Photography
By Ed Avis
Do you think you have a lot of costumes? Maybe so, but you probably can’t compare with Jacob Patorti, who joined the NCA as a Costume Professional in early February. Patorti has nearly 10,000 hung articles and 400 totes full of accessories. And he’s only 30 years old!
How did such a youthful costumer accumulate such a tremendous collection? By making friends.
“I’m a Vermont native who has enjoyed the shine of a good sequin since I was three years old,” says Patorti, who is a theater and film director. “Five years ago, I inherited what was said to be the largest private theater stock in New England from Diane Mott, owner of Big Red Barn Costume Collection, in Goshen, Vermont. I had been assisting Diane since I was 12 years old, spending weeks to size hundreds of men’s suits in below freezing temperatures and loving it!”
The Big Red Barn Costume Collection is a massive collection of theater costumes that Mott accumulated over the years through her work with local theater companies and schools. The collection dates back to the Proctor Players theater troupe in the 1930s. When Mott retired, she handed the collection to Patorti, who is the founder and president of the Vermont Theater Lab at Merchants Hall in Rutland, Vermont.
In 2015, Patorti and dozens of volunteers moved the collection into the second and third floors of Merchants Hall. His family had purchased the building, which is in downtown Rutland, in 2009. When it was built in 1853 it was a funeral home and from 1932 to 1999 it housed The Fashion Shop Department Store.
Patorti, alongside his co-general managers, Linda Otto and Tonya MH, hope to create a profitable business from “the costume collection upstairs.” Mott was casual with the business, often renting items such as all of the costumes for a production of Hello, Dolly! for just $500.
“Diane is a master of fashion,” Patorti says. “Her grandmother was a fashionista in NYC, and we have dozens of objects she created back in the 1940s. Diane welcomed local companies and schools to house their costumes for free, and she only collected about $5,000 a year renting Hello, Dolly!, Beauty and the Beast and Music Man. We’re hoping that even with COVID-19 our 2021 rentals will bring us at least $10,000, and we are selling some of our vintage costumes that I know couldn’t make it through more than one show, such as over 300 vintage furs including a dozen Bergdorf Goodman, Anne Fogerty originals, Bob Mackie, and dresses said to have been worn by Maria Callas herself!”
Patorti would like to grow his collection and has many friends in the costume field who could help him. For example, one of his mentors is NCA retired member Lorraine Brown, former owner of Fabian’s Costumes in Fair Haven, Vermont. Brown is a friend of current NCA Board member Louella Torrence, owner of Drop Me a Line Costume Shop in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Another friend is Paula McLaughlin of the previous Costumes Galore in Rutland, which experienced a tragic fire in 1999. He says that many other creatives have helped him learn his craft, including Christine Russ of Gypsies in Leicester VT and Elfie Choquette (Clarendon, VT), who have since passed and left him pieces to add to the collection.
“I love all of these women, they’ve taught me everything I know,” Patorti says. “Indeed... I still have so much more to learn.”
Patorti says there are many talented costume-related people in his area and he’d love to employ them as his business grows: “We’ve got a lot of manpower, and over 23,000 square feet of space, Oh!, and a lot of enthusiasm!”
Interested in selling or donating costumes to Patorti’s collection? Contact him at jpatorti@gmail.com