You will receive full training in the skills, techniques and craft you need to create superb costume for film, television, theatre and performance as well as beautiful evening and bridal wear, including:
• costume & clothing design
• millinery (hat-making)
• tailoring
• leatherwork - leather moulding/embossing
• mask-making
• corsetry
By the end of your three years, you will be able to design, source materials and create full costumes. You will showcase your designs in a final degree show which will be seen by industry specialists. The programme is built on strong industrial relationships and you may have the opportunity to work on live briefs, work placements and collaborate with students from a range of our other programmes including
Acting for Stage & Screen and
Film, TV & Theatre Production; this will enable you to gain a real understanding of the costume industry.
Awards
• The Godber Theatre Foundation Prize 2021
• Costume Designers Guild 2019 'Costume excellence in Contemporary television'
• Nominee (Alumni) Fleabag, BBC
You will be provided with a design bay, desk and storage locker. The School also provides fitting rooms, sewing rooms with industry-standard equipment and wet rooms for the production of fabric. You will be working with experienced industry practitioners who continue to work within television, film and theatre.
You will have access to the School’s costume collection - with garments from the 1800s onwards - providing a rich primary source for understanding and learning. In your final year, you will have the opportunity to exhibit your designs to an audience of industry practitioners. With great industry links, we welcome visiting guest lecturers throughout the programme, recent guests have included: Amber Butchart (
A Stitch in Time BBC) & Michele Carragher (
Game of Thrones HBO).
First Year
• Costume construction techniques
• Critical analysis and costume interpretation
• Design and illustration for costume
• Fabric manipulation and applied surface decoration
• Period and contemporary pattern cutting
Second Year
• Costume communication theory and visualisation skills
• Millinery and trimming techniques
• Professional and commercial links within the industry
• Research, exploration and construction skills for specialist costume
• Tailoring for costume industry and specialist sampling
• Live briefs
Final Year
• A final project
• Dissertation
• Exhibition
• Portfolios that span traditional and social media routes
• Work for competitions and live industry briefs
Our Alumni work across a wide range of productions, including:
•
Benidorm
•
Beowulf (ITV)
•
Death in Paradise BBC
•
Doctor Who BBC
•
Downton Abbey
•
Exodus: Gods and Kings starring Christian Bale (20th Century Fox)
•
Fleabag, BBC
•
Gentleman Jack, BBC
•
Harry Potter
•
His Dark Materials, BBC
•
Inspector George Gently
•
Into the Woods starring Meryl Streep (Disney)
•
Killing Eve
•
Peaky Blinders
•
RSC Matilda
•
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Disney)
•
SS-GB starring Sam Riley (BBC)
•
Sherlock Holmes starring Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC)
•
Shrek the Musical
•
The English Game (Netflix)
•
The Split (BBC)
•
Vera
•
Victor Frankenstein starring James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe
•
Wolf Hall starring Damien Lewis (BBC)
•
Victoria starring Jenna Coleman (ITV)
Graduate Destinations
Our graduates work in a wide range of careers including:
• Entertainment industries - Disney, Tussauds Group
• Freelance designer & constructor
• costume houses - RSC, Angels, Cosprop, Opera Houses, Theatres, TV, Film
• heritage industries – museum exhibitions
• castles/stately homes - re-enactment and entertainment
• costume preservation
• teaching & education
Alumni Awards
Costume Designers Guild ‘Costume Excellence in Contemporary Television’ Nominee, Fleabag, BBC
Your portfolio is a visual statement it tells us alot about you & your practice. The advice below is not meant to be restrictive but rather offers some simple advice to help you prepare for your portfolio review.
What we like to see
Generally, sketchbooks, drawings, project work and evidence of your sewing skills; this can be garments, bags, embroidery etc. which you have either made for college projects or for personal use. If you have a lot of these, which are often difficult to carry, then just bring a small selection of your most successful pieces
and bring photographs of the rest.
Drawing
Any drawings from life drawing, experimenting with different media to design sketches and illustrations.
Sketchbooks
Your research will show us what excites you and what has inspired you during your projects and course. This needs to be evident in your sketchbooks and should include visual references to other artists and designers. You should include references to contemporary and historical practices and show your interest in costume in its widest context.
Our school engages with a wide range of partners working across each creative sub-sector to ensure that teaching and learning are in line with the latest developments in and requirements of industry, including:
Amber Butchart
Amber Butchart is a curator, writer and broadcaster who specialises in the cultural and political history of textiles and dress. Amber is a longstanding friend of The School – she was the Valedictory Speaker at our 2019 Graduation Ceremony and has delivered talks and worked with our costume students. She is perhaps best known for her regular appearances on The Great British Sewing Bee and her own TV series for BBC ‘A Stitch In Time’. She is a frequent contributor to TV and radio and has published five books on fashion and cultural history.
amberbutchart.com
Angels Costumes
Angels Costumes is the go-to costume provider for high end TV and feature films as well as theatre. They were established back in 1840 and have the largest collection of costumes and accessories anywhere in the world. They design, make and hire costume to an amazing range of productions. Their credits include:
The Crown, Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocket Man, Aladdin, Beauty and The Beast, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, Dads Army, Death of Stalin, Emerald City, Florence Foster Jenkins, Brooklyn, Peaky Blinders, Taboo, Swallows and Amazons, Sleepy Hollow, Victoria, Call The Midwife, Downton Abbey, Wolf Hall, Poldark, Assassins Creed, and Peaky Blinders, to name just a small sample. Many of these have attracted Oscar and BAFTA awards and nominations.
angels.co.uk
Gillian Wolfe Head of costume Beamish Museum
Beamish is a world famous outdoor museum which recreates different periods from the Georgian through to the 1950s. It is a living, working museum that uses its collections to connect with people from all walks of life and tells the story of everyday life in the North East of England. As such all staff wear period relevant and accurate costume to help transport visitors back in time.
beamish.org.uk
