21M.715 | Fall 2009 | Undergraduate

The Craft of Costume Design

Course Description

This class provides an overview of some of the techniques used in creating costume pieces that are crafted rather than sewn. We will use a variety of materials and techniques to create specific costume pieces while at the same time exploring alternative applications possible for each material/technique.
Learning Resource Types
Image Gallery
Projects with Examples
Design Assignments with Examples
Over street clothes, a woman wears a corset mock-up, a jacket with painted Celtic knots, gauntlets with metal panels and wires, a gold-and-silver bead necklace, a purple-and-gold mask, and a blue hat with a yellow lily.
A student models various costume elements completed for this course: a felt hat, a molded mask, a necklace made from found objects, a simple corset, an embellished thrift-store jacket, and armored gauntlets. (Photo by Leslie Held; costuming by an anonymous MIT student. Used with permission.)