Stage Costume Construction

Learn how to create historically accurate costumes for Elizabethan period productions with Elizabethan Costume Design and Construction! Extensive coverage of a variety of costumes for both men and women of all social classes will allow you to be prepared for any costuming need, and step-by-step instructions will ensure you have the know-how to design and construct your garments. Get inspired by stunning, hand-drawn renderings of costumes used in real life productions like Mary Stuart as you’re led through the design process. Detailed instructions will allow you to bring your designs to life and create a meticulously constructed costume.

Written for the use of students and practitioners in the amateur and professional worlds of today's theatre, this handbook covers every aspect of a costume designer's work from preliminary sketches and discussions with a producer to cutting and trying on for Shakespeare and modern plays.

Successful costume design requires a solid foundation in general artistic principles and specific knowledge of how to apply those principles. Cunningham presents readers with just such a foundation and develops it to expose beginning costume designers to the myriad skills they need to develop in order to costume successful stage productions. She begins at the most basic conceptual level—reading plays from a costume designer's perspective. She then follows through with the practical considerations that must be considered at every stage of the costuming process—research, development, sketching, and costume construction. Cunningham has built on the long-standing success of the outstanding first edition with new figures and updates throughout the text, including 24 pages in full color. Examples have been selected from a wide range of stage productions representing a variety of designers, styles, and approaches. Interviews with award-winning designers from stage, film, and other media show the practical importance of the book's concepts. Every chapter incorporates material reflecting the ever-increasing impact of technology, especially computers, on costuming. New to this edition is an ancillary download package (available here), giving students a selection of basic figure drawings to serve as the base layer for digital renderings, ready-made forms and checklists for assembling and organizing costumes for shows, and a list of research and reference websites with easily clickable links.

Constructing costumes requires a diverse set of skills to successfully create magic on the stage. Knowledge of sewing is vital, but Katherine Strand-Evans shows how much more is involved. She walks readers step by step through setting up and supplying a costume workshop; choosing fabrics; draping, drafting, and manipulating patterns; dyeing and fabric modification; and constructing accessories such as historical undergarments, hats and headdresses, shoes and footwear, masks and armor, jewelry and crowns, and, new to this edition, wigs (written by James McGough). Throughout, the author considers not only the creative aspects of executing costume designs, but also the limitations of budgets and time. Costume Construction opens doors for each reader to find his or her own path to becoming an effective costume technician.

From the Blurb: Effective costume design is a subtle art, for the impact of stage dress can immediately convey historical perspective, insights into individual characters, and a visual complement to the setting. Douglas A. Russell, whose years of experience as a costume designer have made him a master of the craft, examines every detail of the complex process. From script to production, Professor Russell guides the reader towards a complete understanding of costume design, for his work encompasses critical, aesthetic, practical, and historical viewpoints. On the one hand, Stage Costume Design is a practical manual which provides a step-by-step scheme for the construction of a costume. Every technical aspect-sketching, design and composition, color, fabric and pattern selection, accessory construction, ornamentation, and production organization-is here discussed with precision and clarity. Probing beyond mechanical problems, the author also investigates costume in terms of color association, the effect of fabric under light, and the structure of costume as personal expression. At the same time, this exemplary guide is the first in its field to emphasize costume design as an art as well as a craft; no other volume has so thoroughly explored the relation of costume design to the other arts of sculpture, architecture, and painting. By comparing period style to costume design, Professor Russell offers an entirely new artistic perspective too often overlooked in traditional texts. Although costume designing is shown to be a very complicated process, Professor Russell's introductory text will surely reward all who study it with care.

Bringing Set and Costume Designs to Fruition: Made by Teams dives into the collaborative working relationships between set and costume designers with their technical counterparts throughout the theatrical production process, from concept to execution. Set and costume designers render environments and characters for a wide array of performative events; skilled artisans and technologists bring these visions to life. This book explores the dynamic between those who decide what the set and costumes should look like and those who make them work, including scene designers, costume designers, scene shops, and costume shops. The book discusses how to identify resources, ask the right questions, and engage in healthy collaborations. Following these fundamentals are practical activities and interviews with industry professionals that demonstrate how these skills can be applied to a broad range of productions and other avenues for creative design and production. Bringing Set and Costume Designs to Fruition is written for emerging professionals in set and costume design, as well as students in courses across a theatre degree program, including stagecraft, costume construction, scene design, and introduction to theatrical design and production.

Learn how to create historically accurate costumes for Elizabethan period productions with Elizabethan Costume Design and Construction! Extensive coverage of a variety of costumes for both men and women of all social classes will allow you to be prepared for any costuming need, and step-by-step instructions will ensure you have the know-how to design and construct your garments. Get inspired by stunning, hand-drawn renderings of costumes used in real life productions like Mary Stuart as you’re led through the design process. Detailed instructions will allow you to bring your designs to life and create a meticulously constructed costume.