Costume Design for Performance

Course Introduction

The course aims to develop confident and experimental practitioners who will push the boundaries of the subject of costume beyond its established role. Taught largely on a 1 to 1 basis, by international practitioners, experienced teachers and senior researchers, this course aims to nurture creative ideas about costume and performance. Students will design, realise and experiment with costume based performance ideas that enable them to define their inpidual voice in relation to contemporary culture and practice, while responding visually to the relevant performance context. Beyond the understanding of performance and the role of character creation through costume, this course allows students to locate practice within the wider realms of contemporary culture and art, as well as within the relevant dramatic, social and philological contexts. The relationship between drawing, practical realisation and performance, is central to the way design is approached: ideas are developed on paper and through movement, as well as through pattern cutting, textile printing, dyeing and surface manipulation. Practical experimentation is achieved through access to the extensive technical facilities available within the college, expanding knowledge of the uses of computer aided design (CAD), tailoring, print, knit and embroidery within costume.