Roger Davis is another principle in RENT. Having just recovered from half a year of withdrawl from heroin, he has holed himself up in the loft he shares with Mark. Added to his troubles, his girlfriend (who also did heroin with him) committed suicide, which prompted his attempt to get clean. His character is a struggling musician/song writer and, once Maggie and I did a costume breakdown of the play, is quite the clotheshorse.

We didn't sew almost anything of our RENT outfits; there was simply no need. Everything we either had already or bought retail. Roger has three costume changes in RENT.

Update! - I finally added pictures of me in my Regina costume with my new black boots. Woot! See the pictures here.

Skip to finished costume.

Unlike Maggie and Sashay, my key costume piece was a green corduroy jacket nearly the same shade that Roger wears. Underneath it, he wears a punk-ish black sleeveless shirt, so I decided on a tight-fitting black shirt with a flame design that laced up the sides (already had this too). The skirt we found at Sears for $4 on clearance and I shortened it into a mini. I bought black fishnets from Walmart, the boots were Maggie's and the jewelry, including the 'wallet' chain, were from Claires.

               

[up]   [act one]   [act two]

Roger's second outfit is a striped black and white shirt with a pair of black pinstripped trousers. For my costume, I made the shirt from 1/2 yd. of zebra-esque fabric pinned together at the sides with safety-pins for an added bohemian touch. The skirt we found at Goodwill and shortened considerably. Roger also wears a leather coat and scarf in a few of the scenes so those we added too (jacket was a Christmas present from Maggie; the scarf I already owned). His second outfit is a purple button-down shirt with the same pinstriped trousers. I already owned the shirt so that was no problem. The jewelry and boots for both costumes were the same as Act One.

       

[up]   [act one]   [act two]

Check out the new black boots!

   

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To see the reference images used to make this costume,
check out my Roger Davis Costume Research.