Inside the two-story wardrobe room at Inland Pacific Ballet's studio in Montclair, racks of costumes hung limp on a recent morning. On Saturday, schools of fish, shrimp, jellyfish, sea scum, sea horses and mermaids will wiggle inside these colorful bodies of sculpted silk and spandex and bring to life the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale "The Little Mermaid."

Twenty-two dancers are cast in six live ballet performances this weekend and next in Bridges Auditorium at the Claremont Colleges.

It is master wardrobe designer Jeanne Nolden's nimble fingers, eye for design, and a lot of imagination that manipulate yards of regal and funky fabrics into limber fairy tale characters based on artist Craig Shepherd's renderings. Opalescent organza jellyfish. Eyelash jersey sea scum. Iridescent mermaids. A rainbow of dupione silk sea horses. Drapery sheer clad princesses. "When it catches the air it's magical on stage," Nolden said, describing the jelly fish and other wispy designs that take on a life of their own with each dancer's movement. "It's a fun ballet."

But don't typecast this Montclair resident as a seamstress. Nolden said it would make a seamstress shiver to look at the costumes' construction. "We do very unorthodox things. We don't use conventional methods. It's a creative process. We construct costumes. It's whatever works," said Nolden, who volunteers her services along with Nina Hickey and Maria Elena Diaz. "We use some of the most beautiful fragile fabrics and yet they've got to wear like iron. And that's part of the challenge."

Victoria Koenig, Inland Pacific Ballet's artistic director, said Nolden is experienced and passionate about her craft. She said with ballet costumes, sometimes less is more.

"Not only did she build all the costumes, but basically she invented how to make the artist's concept come to life," Koenig said. "Hanging on the rack, costumes look drippy."

Koenig points to a costume and says when light reflects off the contrasting fabrics it comes to life. A sleeve cut on the diagonal and unevenly is more fluid. "When the dancer moves it creates more movement than the dancer is able to create," she said. Body type, comfort and safety of the dancers are key considerations when selecting fabric and constructing a costume. In one scene, the Little Mermaid, Jennifer Friel, dances on spinning trapeze slings. "You have to make different body types look good and the way a particular piece of fabric is cut makes all the difference in the world," Koenig said. "The wrong fit of a costume can make a dancer look bad as opposed to flatter their lines."

A two-day shopping trip to the Los Angeles fabric district sparked the imaginations of Koenig and Nolden when they searched for fishy fabrics. The Sea King's cape, the most time- consuming to construct, has a regal and dramatic presence on stage, they said. Made from green and blue drapery and upholstery fabrics with gold scallop embellishments that resemble seashells, the royal blue on the cape swirls like the waves of an ocean.

"We have such a wide range of fabrics for a wide range of characters," said co-producer Kevin Myers, who met Nolden when she made costumes for him when he was 17. The Sea Witch has a sinister-looking costume that glows when a red light on stage strikes the iridescent dark purple and black fabric with a red unitard. Sea horses wear lime-green spandex fabric and carry two wood-and-foam sea horse puppets that volunteer Cathy Clemmons hand glued. "Everything in their movements creates the sense of being under water," Koenig said.

Nolden had no formal training in costume construction. Her two daughters were studying ballet with Tania Lichine Ria bouchinska at the Lichine Bal let Academy in Beverly Hills where Koenig also was a stu dent. She made her first tutu for a studio recital in West Covina. Nolden learned by doing. "It wasn't a career path. It was something I did on the side," she said. "I do it because I love the art and you have some part in it. Actually, when you get one created and see it on stage, it's a great satisfaction to see it working. It's something beauti ful."

Debbie Council can be reached at (909) 483-8549 or d_council@dailybulletin.com