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The costume designer's goals can be broken into five categories: costumes should help establish tone/style, time/place, and character identity, and costumes should aid the performer in assuming the role of their character while still coordinating with the director's, writer’s and producer's concepts.
The costume designer's goals can be broken into five categories: costumes should help establish tone/style, time/place, and character identity, and costumes should aid the performer in assuming the role of their character while still coordinating with the director's, writer’s and producer's concepts.Read More belowMy first step is to read a project’s script, focusing specifically on identifying the time period, and assessing the characters, including their actions and how they change throughout each episode. Analyzing their frame of mind is important because a shift in attitude throughout a show would provide me with a clue that this character’s style needs to change along with their personal journey. For example, are they shy and meek in episode 1 but by episode 5 they have evolved into their own power?
Next I create a customized set of mood boards which allow to writer’s to assess my vision of the overall look and feel of their project. It is important to make sure that we have the same concept in mind before moving on to my next step…
Then I research the established time period of the show further, analyzing my personal collection of vintage books or visit the library to get copies of Vogue or other style magazines for the year of the project. I establish a famous actor or character whose look I would like to emulate and then use these as my inspiration for drawing original sketches of each character’s costume. These sketches are then further designed in a professional format.
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I source my costumes from a variety of locations and create a customizable budget to follow. My personal favorite stores include the Albright Fashion Library for both new and old couture and vintage stores such as Ritual Vintage in Brooklyn. A team of shoppers work with me to source the items ahead of fittings.
I attend regular production meetings where I have to ensure that my designs are still in line with the director's concept for the project, as this may differ from the writers and producers,in order to blend everyone’s ideas together. My costumes have to produce a visual representation of the writer’s thoughts while still looking good on screen for the directors and producers vision.
I work closely with the actors to develop a good relationship that allows me to choose costumes for that specific actor's body as much as for the role they are playing while supporting the director's concept, in order to create a coordinated visual effect.
From small styling projects to full production costume design and build, let's discuss customize a plan to suit your needs.
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