mentor. When a theater production needed a dresser, she would suggest
me. I was always watching her design costumes and sets." In time,
Migliore assisted in designing a show and eventually designed costumes
for a friend's play. During the summer, she worked for a dinner theater,
gaining additional experience.
After graduation, she served a summer apprenticeship in the Santa Fe
Opera costume shop. "It was very good training in the right way to sew.
It's a very hard-working, strict costume shop. You do it the right way and
if it's not right, you do it over until you get it right. They are known for
really beautifully made costumes."
Her apprenticeship com-
pleted, Migliore remained in
New Mexico another year,
working for different boutique
clothing and accessory design-
ers. Through an employer, she
heard of a feature coming to
shoot in the area and faxed off a
résumé. Late one night she got a
call to be on set at 5:30 the fol-
lowing morning to work as a
day player on Speechless. With another woman, she was sent into a field of
300 extras with Polaroid photographs to maintain continuity. "We had to go
around and make sure the extras had the same thing on. It was one of those
days where it was cold in the morning and got warm in the afternoon, but if
they had their coat on when shooting started, they had to keep it on all day.
When they came back the second day, it was a continuation of the scene."
Fascinated, Migliore knew she wanted to be part of filmmaking.
She moved to Los Angeles for a short time before returning to
Virginia, where she discovered many opportunities to work in film on the
East Coast. Through a friend she had met while working on an outdoor
drama during college, she landed a job on the television series Ghost
Stories. "It was grueling and I was working for a lot less than I normally
accepted, but the appealing part was that the show was going to turn
union and everyone working on it would get into the union free. You'd
still have to pay your dues, but you wouldn't have to pay the initiation
fee. That is how I got in the union."
From Ghost Stories, Migliore went directly to working as a set costumer
on the television series Legacy. Her next big break was on the miniseries
Sally Hemmings: An American Scandal, followed by features Cherry Falls,
The Patriot, Domestic Disturbance, and A Walk to Remember. Proving the
importance of maintaining relationships, the supervisor who hired
"Organizing is
the key to success.
If wardrobe is not
organized, you can
never find what you
need in that half a second that you need
it."--Katrina Migliore
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