What is a Costume Designer Job Description, Duties & Salary

Table Of Content

• Who becomes a costume designer?
• Salary and Getting Started
• Intern, Product Designer
• Creative Intern – Design and Content
• Resource Employee - Stage Technician
• How is this career different than it was 10 or 25 years ago?
• L.A.’s magical sound bath scene has something for everyone. Here are 11 of our favorites

She needed to figure out how to make money, otherwise she couldn’t continue doing what she loved.

Who becomes a costume designer?

Additionally, they must have the attention to detail, leadership, and time management skills to get projects done on time. As for most in the theater business, networking and self-promotion are vital skills for finding work. “Don’t let your ego get in the way of a job that you could get,” said Song.

Salary and Getting Started

They might begin by working on college or community productions or interning for university costume departments. As you can see, costume designers are incredibly important to the filmmaking process, but they can often be unsung heroes. From fantasy films, to period pieces, to contemporary television shows, there is a lot of thought and effort put into the wardrobe of a story. Costume designers typically begin researching and creating designs for a production months before it's staged, although production cycles can vary greatly.

Intern, Product Designer

Experts in fashion history, practical clothes making, and theatrical design, costume designers plan and supervise the creation of the costumes and outfits worn by characters in a play or opera. Costumes help form the audience’s first impression of a character, even before any dialogue is spoken. This involves taking into consideration the time period, location, personalities, mood and more.

Times your questions about breaking into and working in the entertainment industry. While it’s good to be proactive, Bronfman thinks one of the biggest mistakes she sees young people make is jumping into a job they aren’t ready for. Costume designer Paul Tazewell chose distinct color palettes to help audiences track the opposing groups whether they were dancing in the school gym or fighting in the street.

Typically once the research and story come together, sketches are made and look boards are made to present to the director a vision of the film’s final costume design. Once the director and/or producers sign off on the ideas, the movie costume designer gets their team to work. Take a look at costume designers Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson breakdown how they designed the costumes of The Irishman in this video by Vanity Fair. Costume designers are often confused with the job of a fashion designer and rightfully so. And, obviously, both must understand the craft of creating clothing.

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How is this career different than it was 10 or 25 years ago?

Now, many of the top film and fashion schools include costume design programs. Bronfman was the costume supervisor for the first two seasons of “A Handmaid’s Tale” and became the costume designer for the third season. Build shows need more craftspeople like tailors and seamstresses, as well as agers and dyers — the artists who take new clothes and make them look like they’ve been worn. An interest in costume design often starts with an interest in fashion.

Berklee Career Manager

Costume design is an important aspect of filmmaking because it contributes to a film’s mise en scene. Mise en scene might sound like a completely foreign term, but luckily if you want to learn more about it, we break it down thoroughly in our next article and how it plays an important role in a film. Costume designers understand that filmmaking is a collaborative effort. In this phase of understanding the script and the story, designers will collaborate with the director. Take a look at this video below that analyzes how designers must really be storytellers to create iconic looks in film.

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L.A.’s magical sound bath scene has something for everyone. Here are 11 of our favorites

Because scenes are often shot out of order, designers need to plan accordingly. If a scene takes several days to film, the outfit has to be managed so it can appear the same way for continuity. Costume designers also need to remember whether an actor likes a particular undergarment or pantyhose, and if any prefers armpit shields. After getting a thorough understanding of a script and having creative discussions with the director, a film costume designer will enter the research phase of their job.

As with many jobs in performing arts, work days tend to grow longer and less predictable the closer it gets to showtime. At times, costume designers may work only a couple of hours per day; at other times, they could work ten-hour days or even all-nighters in the costume shop. Whether purchasing, creating, or tailoring costume pieces, the costume designer is in charge of the costume team, budget, and time frame for the project.

They must understand the story’s tone, themes, character arcs, setting, and plot. Often, costume designers will break down a script for these wardrobe clues. A costume designer, on the other hand, must design clothing for a character in a story.