Beginning Costume Design and Construction

Projects

This page contains details about the various activities students complete in and out of class. Examples of student work for some activities can be found on the Image Galleries page.

SES #	TOPICS	PROJECTS
1	Intro: who are you and who am I? What is a costume? Why a costume designer? Lecture: Reading the Play
2	Lecture: Psychology of Clothes Discuss On the Harm of Tobacco lists
3	Discuss Little Red Riding Hood versions and the idea of concept
4	Lecture: Script and Character Analysis; Research; Styles of Costumes Discuss On the Harm of Tobacco renderings
5	Lecture: Translating Emotion to Visual Visual conversation exercise Line/Emotion exercise	Translating emotion to visual Cards are layed out that feature photos of different colors and textures. Students choose an emotion from a list and them assemble a group of cards of their choice to represent that emotion. We then try and determine which emotions are represented. Each student talks aboout why they made their choices and hears feedback from the group. The use of cards in this exercise is adapted from Tiala, Crystal. “Teaching Visual Communication: Using Image Cards as a Teaching Tool.” Theatre Design & Technology 39 (Winter 2003): 10-16.
6	Look at research for On the Harm of Tobacco Lecture: Elements of Design
7	Rendering exercises Drawing lab	Rendering Students spend a session practicing contour drawing, still lifes from a distance, 2 second impression sketches, and drawing fabric draping and pleats.
8	Discuss line gowns Watch excerpts of Hamlet by Zeffirelli and discuss idea of concept	Line gowns Students share their renderings of dresses designed with a dominant vertical, horizontal and diagonal line. We discuss what effect each creates. (Images: Student A, Student B)
9	Discuss food assignment with preso Begin drafting unit: bodice and hip block	Food assignment Ads for Vytorin, an anti-cholesterol drug, feature photos of food and people with matching appearances. See examples: one, two, three, four. Students were asked to bring in a photo of a food that they find attractive. They then render a character using the same principles of design observed in the food picture. (Images)
10	Discuss Hamlet collages Continue drafting Begin cutting and sewing muslins
11	Discuss food assignment Finish and fit muslins
12	Thrift store transformation workshop	Thrift store transformation Teams of students pick an image of a period costume, and emulate it using thrift store purchases. Transformation of materials is encouraged.
13	Pattern manipulation and drafting Discuss Stupid Kids Introduce sloper manipulation project
14	Lecture: stylization and abstraction Wedding project	Wedding project Students are assigned a persona, such as Victorian schoolmistress, punk, WASP, etc., and create a wedding dress out of newspaper in a single class session. (Images)
15	Color workshop Talk about garbage project	Color workshop Student spend a session experimenting with mixing colors, first with paint, then with fabrics.
16	Look at Stupid Kids sketches Begin sloper manipulation project	Sloper manipulation Students learn to manipulate the basic sloper that they have drafted to create a number of different styles.
17	Look at group dynamics Discuss final project Continue sloper manipulation project	Group dynamics Given a handout portraying four young women, design outfits for each that suggest a group identity but are not identical. Please see Fig. 1.39 in Costume Design.
18	Look at Stupid Kids renderings Sloper project
19	Look at Kiosk Man sketches Discuss dynamics of play and characters in Lion in Winter
20	Open shop: garbage project brainstorming Sloper project Lion in Winter questions
21	Texture exercise Pinstripe Olympics	Texture exercise From a box of black and white fabrics, students chose fabric swatches based on a list of character traits. They are then told the identity of the character and discuss how/why their choices work. Pinstripe Olympics Students are assigned a caricature persona such as used car salesman, rock star, lawyer, etc. and pull a costume from stock for that character; each costume must include a pinstriped suit.
22	Look at Lion in Winter preliminary sketches Papers returned Open shop
23	Present garbage project Look at finals so far if needed Open shop	Garbage project Students construct an article of clothing (vest, skirt, hat, etc.) out of found materials, such as soda can tabs, plastic bags, wire, etc.
24	Final project preso, Lion In Winter	Students present fully rendered and swatched designs for all costumes in The Lion in Winter. Included in the project is a paper describing their concept, how they did research and how they went about expressing their ideas visually. (Images: Student A, Student B)