My Favorite Costume

Ooollee Bricker Vintage Ooollee Augusta, Georgia

What does a costumer do when a favorite costume tears beyond repair?

For Ooollee Bricker, the answer was simple: make it again! And that’s just what she did when she got to work and made the Baroque & Rococo period costume that has always been popular for theater productions and rentals at Vintage Ooollee—a shop in Augusta, Georgia that carries the largest selection of authentic vintage clothing and costume rentals in the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA). “My original costume rental inventory was purchased from Fat Man’s Forest, a local shop that had closed after 50 years, and many of the costumes were older and needed replacing,” Bricker recalls. “This one is my favorite one in the shop because of the style, beautiful fabric and color usage.” According to Bricker, the first time the new costume was used was when it was worn by a queen in a production at Storyland Theatre, a local children’s theater. “It has been rented numerous times since then and is a favorite of many customers,” Bricker reports. What is your favorite costume? To be considered for an upcoming My Favorite Costume profile, email Editor Kathleen Furore at kfurore@yahoo.com.

The beautiful picture of Vintage Ooollee’s Baroque & Rococo period costume is the handiwork of photographer Sally Kolar—a photographer who has become Ooollee Bricker’s very close friend over the years.

“Sally and I have worked on many photo shoots together…One year I invited Sally to attend another event that I costumed called Wet Paint, an annual art sale and party for the Greater Augusta Arts Council,” Bricker remembers. “The year that I invited Sally, it happened to be on my birthday. When they sang Happy Birthday to me that night, I found out that Sally’s birthday was the day before mine. No wonder we work so well together! Running a costume shop has brought so many people into my life especially all of my wonderful employees. More importantly it has been so much fun!”