Authenticity on a shoestring

There’s a reason so few theaters tackle reproductions of “The Women.” The gossipy society gals in the 1936 play are as chameleon-like with their clothes as they are with their confidantes, making it an intimidating show to costume, especially on a shoestring budget.

But costume designer Shon LeBlanc has a knack for alchemy. The award-winning 37-year-old regularly transforms skimpily funded productions into shows that look decidedly more expensive, a talent that is especially evident in Theatre Neo’s current revival of the high-fashion Clare Boothe Luce classic. On a budget of only $3,000, he coordinated more than 100 outfits for the Hollywood presentation, including, by LeBlanc’s estimate, “about 10 pounds of jewelry.” “If this production is done badly ... then you are going to have people go, ‘If you didn’t have the money, why did you do it?’ ” he said of the piece, a Broadway smash that was later turned into a film classic starring Joan Crawford.

In homage to the movie’s famed fashion show sequence, LeBlanc worked with a handful of local designers to create an elegant assortment of black-and-white evening wear. The rest of the show is no less stunning. Combining vintage and made-to-order items with contemporary dresses and pieces worn by late, great actresses like Jessica Tandy, LeBlanc tackled the project with panache. LeBlanc is an anomaly in the business in that he does not sew and because he owns his own costume shop. Located along an industrial corridor in Van Nuys, Valentino’s is home to about 40,000 wardrobe items -- 50,000 with accessories.

He works on about 20 plays each year. This year he has costumed the musicals “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, and “Sunday in the Park With George,” at West Coast Ensemble in L.A.

He’s currently costuming “The Men From the Boys,” the sequel to the dishy gay birthday party drama “The Boys in the Band,” which he worked on 10 years ago -- both at Hollywood’s Fountain Theatre.

When he started in theater 21 years ago, he was an actor. After getting a job at the Pasadena costume shop Somewhere in Time, he said, “I fell in love with the historic aspect of wardrobe.”

He worked his way up through the costuming ranks at Center Theatre Group, then for Emmy Award-winning designer Bill Hargate, then CBS.

LeBLANC has only been costuming for 13 years, but in that time he’s managed to rack up an impressive list of achievements -- winning numerous Garland and Drama-Logue awards, as well as a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for L.A.’s Greenway Court Theatre’s 2001 production of the Depression-era drama “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”

Understated and meticulously distressed by hand, “Shon’s costumes looked like they were right out of the dustbowl. The characters looked like they had been living in them,” said Carol Klein, a former costumer, now actress, who’s renowned for her work with L.A.’s Mark Taper Forum. “The best costume design is when it’s totally supportive of the character, and his were so supportive of the character to the point that you didn’t notice.”

Clothes being an extension of character, understanding roles is critical to translating text into costume. LeBlanc, who specializes in period theater, reads history books to prepare.

“I keep little things in the back of my mind and pick them out when I’m doing design,” he said. His interpretation of Lopakhin’s two-tone yellow shoes in Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard,” for example, were inspired by shoes he’d seen in a Civil War textbook. His work on the play, produced at North Hollywood’s Interact Theatre, won him a Garland Award in 1999.

“Shon does his homework on every single show that he designs,” said Klein, who once bumped into LeBlanc at a vintage clothing store, buried in a pile of petticoats. “He’s always on a treasure hunt. It’s making a show look like a million bucks and you have five cents to do it. That’s the trick, and he does it well.”

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‘The Women’

Where: Hudson Avenue Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood

When: Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends Aug. 23.

Cost: $20

Info: (323) 769-5858; www.theatreneo.com.