Setting the mood The stage set design combines with sound and light to give the atmosphere or mood for a production. The costumes work with this to enhance the overall effect. The examples below show how all these elements work together. When you design for a production it is important that you read the script and understand the story, so that your work is in keeping with the overall performance. Time spent designing a bright, cheerful, colourful costume is wasted if the overall effect needed for the production is gloomy and sad! Here the mood is funny, light-hearted, lively, bright and colourful (Mary Poppins is playing at Prince Edward Theatre, Old Compton Street, London) Here the mood is fritening, realistic, surprising and spectacular Les Miserables is playing at the Queen s Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London 1
Here the atmosphere is larger than life, lively, full of energy, bright Here the atmosphere is colourful but very dramatic (Carmen was played at the Royal Albert Hall, in the round) 2
Period detail Most productions require attention to period detail. This gives authenticity to the production. It will be important for you to design costumes that accurately reflect the style of clothing that would be worn by the characters in the performance. If the period is fairly recent say within the last 50 years, then you can easily get precise information from back copies of fashion journals such as Vogue, or from newspapers. Main libraries keep back copies of newspapers on microfiche. If the period is an historical one then you will need to look at examples of dress and artefacts from the time concerned. Museums can be particularly useful here. The Museum of Costume in Bath, for example, traces English fashion back to the 1800s. Art galleries can also provide lots of information about period detail. The difficulty here is that often it is only the clothes of the rich or famous that have been preserved or painted. So, in order to find out about the clothing of more ordinary people in times past, you might need to read novels written at the time which describe their clothes and appearance. Recently, famous paintings and museum collections have become available on CD-ROM. Using this information technology makes researching period detail much less time consuming. How did the designers get the period detail right? Where would you look for information to help you design costumes for the performances shown in the panel on the left? 3
Costumes meeting actors needs A costume needs to meet the following requirements: be easy/straightforward to put on and take off; be comfortable to begin with; stay comfortable during the performance; allow the necessary freedom of movement; and perhaps: allow for any padding the actor has to wear; and: Usually your design will need to take all these into account Sometimes there will be other requirements. If the production is to run for a long time, then the costumes need to be durable; they may need to be washed, or dry cleaned. You may need to produce the costumes as cheaply as possible and therefore it may only be possible to produce props and/or accessories. Cuffs, collars, sashes and hats are simple ways to create the correct effect. You can easily make these from card, paper, or inexpensive fabrics. You can model jewellery from a variety of found materials. allow for quick changes. Will this design for a giant s costume meet the actor s requirements? 3
Textiles Design Guide Costumes for characters You will need to ensure that the features of your design that are important in saying something about the character are visible to the audience. Fine detail is almost always unnecessary so you need to be clear about the overall effect you want your costume to create, and design for this. The silhouette of the character is often important. Sometimes certain shapes are associated with particular periods in history. Sometimes the shape is important to emphasize the character. Here are some examples. Notice that by using rich fabrics and a bold design you can create striking effects, as in the Elizabethan costume shown here. Using satin brocades in contrasting colours and hand stitching and hand made lace you can create a striking costume 4