Storybook Characters Come to Life in Local Costume Shop

Storybook characters were once bound to live between the pages of the books in which they were written. These characters would only come out to play in the imaginations of the reader and people who heard about the story secondhand. Local Texas costume shop, Pages of Time, takes favorite storybook characters and brings them to life by offering thousands of literary-inspired costumes. 

The idea came to costume shop owner Donna Chives when she was reading her favorite story “Huckleberry Finn” to her daughter one evening. The next day while playing dress-up her daughter asked her to make her a costume inspired by the main character. 

“I realized the minute she asked me to make her a literary-inspired costume that this could be an awesome business venture”, said Donna Chives. “Rarely do you see a person who doesn’t have a favorite book whether it is one they read as a child or one they came across as an adult.” 

Pages of Time features thousands of literary-inspired costumes for men, women and children. Character costumes range from literary classics such as “Alice in Wonderland”, “Peter Pan”, and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. Other costumes involve recent literary classics such as “Harry Potter”, “Twilight”, and “Pretty Little Liars”. 

“I always loved to read but now I have an excuse to read even more”, said Chives. “I tell people that it’s for research and development because every costume I have in the store is made by hand. I need to read the book and get a feel for the character to design the costume.” 

Donna Chives designs and creates every costume available in the shop by hand. Until recently she had done most of the sewing and grunt work by herself, but this past summer she recently hired a seamstress to help with the massive amounts of sewing and beadwork. 

“I just couldn’t keep up anymore”, said Chives. “I was coming up with more costume ideas than I could turn out. Tracy [the seamstress] has been a true God send, and her work is gorgeous.” 

Pages of Time has become not just a local hit but an international sensation. Donna Chives’ costumes have been rented by some of Hollywood’s elite, British socialites, and European royalty. 

“The first time I got an official call from one of the Royal’s ladies in waiting I was in shock”, said Chives. “Now it’s like second nature to me, but really I’m just so happy to see people love literary characters to much.”