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Costume Design: A Process

Since each set designer's process will vary, the below is just one possible way of going through the process. 

The below steps are essentially the greatest hits: the steps that most costume designers will use in one form or another.

 

Info Establishing the World

  1. Read the script. The script is the first and foremost resource a designer has for the show. Most designers suggest reading the script the first time as "an audience member." Try and avoid the impulse to start planning or taking notes just yet. The goal for the first-read is to come away with an impression of the show and an emotional response to it.
  2. Meet with the Director and the other designers. Talk about the show, what you liked, what you have questions about, and discuss the director's plans and visions for the show.
  3. Read the script again and take notes. This time, put on your designer hat. Examine the action of each scene, the dialogue, take note of the time of year or time of day for each scene, jot down any costume items or personal objects that are mentioned in the script, and anything else that might be needed in order to do the show. Also, make note of any anticipated costume changes, especially possible quick changes.
  4. Do visual research. These can be photos, paintings, fashion designs, films, or whatever else that speaks to the show, the historical period, or the characters for you as the designer.
      • The type and amount of research for a show can vary a lot, depending on the play
      • Historical plays may require an extensive use of primary sources from the time, such as paintings, literature, and existing artifacts that are leftover from the period and region.
      • Contemporary plays may require looking at fashion design, current trends, and possibly even a research trip to look at and document real-life people who remind you of the characters.
  5. Share your research with the rest of the team. You never know what image might spark either your imagination or those of your collaborators. 
  6. Decide on a path forward. Get on the same page with the director and the rest of the creative team of how you all would like to approach the show and what you want to focus on.

Project Designing

  1. Start to work visually. For a costume designer, this is typically done through rough costume sketches. These can be done with pencil, ink, watercolor, or any other media you want. But these sketches are typically grayscale and are meant as an exploration of what could be. Pull together your conversations with the director together with your visual research and explore the possibilities of what each character might look like.
  2. Show your ideas to the team. Explain how you think each piece fits into your design and the play as a whole. Make note of what the director and others like and don't like (and do your best to avoid being offended).
  3. Make adjustments and re-show. Again, it is important that everyone is on board and in agreement, and that the whole look of the show feels cohesive.
  4. Create the color renderings. These are color illustrations for each costume, for each character in the show, done in watercolor, ink, pastel, gouache, charcoal, gouache, or any other type of suitable media. Computer renderings are becoming increasingly popular through technology like tablet computers, but are almost always still done in the style of hand illustrations. No matter how they are created, these renderings must be clear, proportional, and precise so that the costume shop can create the patterns and final costume pieces from them. The hair, makeup, shoes, and clothing will all be designed and specified.
  5. Swatch the show. Swatches are small samples of fabric that are attached to renderings to indicate the colors, patterns, textures, weights, materials, and just generally the fabric types that the designer is planning on using for each costume piece. Sometimes these come from research trips. Sometimes these are from the final, purchased fabrics. 

Assessment Shopping, Renting, Building

The costume designer's job isn't over though with the completion of their renderings. Together with the costume shop manager, the costume designer will need to make decisions about each costume piece, including the types, colors, and textures of fabric.

They will go on a shopping trip or two to pick fabrics. They will start with swatching and bring those swatch samples back to their studio to look at them next to the individual renderings and also next to the other fabric choices for each costume. The goal is to create a cohesive world for the play to live in, and how the fabric compliments and contrasts each other is a key decision in that process.

Costume designers, along with the costume shop, will also need to make frequent decisions on whether to build, rent, pull, or buy each costume piece.

Built costumes have the bonus of being exactly what the designer wants, down to every cut and detail. But built costumes require specialized sewers, time to make them, and often more money for the materials and labor.

Renting costumes can be great for a specialized piece or two that would be elaborate, expensive, or difficult to make. But it requires a weekly fee for the theatre to pay and this can add up quickly if a lot of costume pieces are needed. As a result, the costume designer will often decide to rent as few pieces as possible.

Pulling costumes is a frequent choice at regional theatres who maintain a stock of costumes in storage. These are costumes from past shows that have been held onto by the theatre. Costume designers will look through this stock for costume pieces that are close to what they want and then have the shop modify them to better fit the look they want and/or to fit the actor's measurements. This option is one of the lowest cost ones available to the designer because alterations take less time, materials, and money than building something from scratch or buying something new from the store.

Buying costumes is a frequent choice for contemporary shows or for costume pieces like undergarments, shoes, and jewelry that are needed for completing the design or look, but may not need to be super specific in their detailing. For contemporary shows, the clothing is still being made out in the world! Costume designers take advantage of this to save time and labor costs. Plus, if the character needs to look like someone you see on the street, it makes it easy to just go out and find something similar to what you want because somebody likely sells it. This technique obviously won't work on shows that take place more than 30 or 40 years ago, simply due to availability and changes in styles over the years. But a great costume designer or shopper knows their way around a thrift store and will often be able to find great pieces for very little money.

Fittings

These will be a series of meetings between the costume shop, costume designer, and each actor in the show where the costume designer will have the actor try on mock-ups or costume pieces. The purpose is to look at both the fit and style of the costume for the show, but also for the designer to see it on the actor to make sure it fits them well and compliments things such as their body shape and skin tone. The designer might even purchase or have the shop build a small variety of pieces so that they have options to try during these sessions.

Fittings are essential to a successful costume design and the costume designer will often have multiple of them with each actor in order to make the costumes perfect. The costume designer must enter into each fitting session with an open mind and might need to make quick decisions when a piece doesn't work out as expected.

Technical Rehearsals

During technical rehearsals, the costume designer will sit and take notes about the costumes onstage. The clothes might look different in front of the set or under the lights than they did in the costume shop. A piece of trim or the scale of a detail might not be making the visual impact they hoped it might. The designer will need to make decisions about what to change or fix in order to fully achieve their vision for the clothes and to tell the story.

During this time, the costume designer will also serve as an advisor to the actors and the dressers for things like makeup and hair styles, or for how to alter the costume to function better for a quick change or a specific blocking/dance movement.

Hopefully it is largely a time where the costume designer can sit back and enjoy seeing their work up on-stage. But in case there are things to change, they are there to make those decisions and advise others.