Being a Costume Designer: Article

So I learned all my periods. I mean, I knew them vaguely from doing art history and fashion history at university, but I did that. And then I went on to what they call index items, where you would describe an item and sort of the color, the fabric, the texture, the way it’s made, all those sorts of things. And that was my introduction to costume. And then I became what they call a Costumier. So I ran a department. And I sort of, I worked in the uniform department. I worked in the, it was modern at the time. It’s, it’s probably not. It’s probably classed as period now. So it was like seventies, eighties, nineties at the time.

And then I worked in light entertainment. And then I went freelance as an assistant costume designer and worked for years, doing that, and mainly assisting a fantastic designer for a long time. And she was very generous. She sort of gave me a lot of creative input and she was, you know, I was able to do, I took over the budget basically.

So that really helped me as a designer. To sort of know my budgets, know what I can work with and what have you. And now I’ve been designing for a long time, but I’ve been designing myself like a good sort of seven or eight years since assisting. So I’ve been assisting and designing at the same time, but actually my own shows for many years now. 

Muaz

Oh, perfect. So fundamentally, how would you describe what a costume designer does? 

Deborah

Yeah, well a costume designer has many facets. It’s very similar for each kind of genre. So I like to do entertainment. I like live and entertainment sort of shows, but for drama, for any of that, it’s all, it’s all sort of got the same kind of bones to it.

A costume designer is normally contacted via producer, production manager, director. We come on board from the creative process. So we come on board like makeup, designers, special effects, that sort of thing. We put a story together. So if it’s via a script, through drama, we sort of are given a script and we would break that down into what we’d call story days and what we’d call costume.

And you’d always have a conversation with the director to discuss, you know, as a costume designer, your vision, as a director, their vision, and as an actor their vision and you try and bring it all together. So you tell a story through the clothes, whether it’s a modern period or whether it’s something from Regency or Georgian or whatever, whatever you’re doing. And then in terms of entertainment, you would have a discussion with the producer. If you’re writing sketches into something, they discuss the sketches that they’re looking at doing, and then you again, have to visually tell that story. So if I was giving an example of a kind of modern day, or if you’re looking at sort of something like soap operas or, you know, any of that kind of thing.

If you’re looking at EastEnders, for example, the costume is the character. So you associate them with that character. If they’re meant to stand out, they will do. And if not, they’re meant to blend in because it is part of their character. So, you know, when you look at things, you look at families. I remember the costume designer that I used to assist many years ago actually did the research at the beginning of EastEnders and, and the families and going around the East End to do a lot of research. 

At the moment, not trying to skip to anything, but I’m actually doing a drama, drama documentary at the moment. Which is Liverpool in the nineties, it’s the drug and club scene. So we’ve filmed a couple of episodes and I’ve done a lot of research from Google, from books, you know, also knowing about Liverpool and its history. And, you know, a lot of that scene was, it’s funny, cause you sort of see it now as well, but it was very label orientated and people think it was very glamorized because it was a club scene, but it wasn’t. It was kind of, the drug scene was quite sort of what I’d call the shapes weren’t, they weren’t fitted. They were just very baggy shapes and they were clubbing. So it was kind of t-shirts and jeans and things like that. But, you know, looking at those shapes and then I was discussing with the director, how he saw it all because we did one, you know, I don’t want to say too much cause it’s not out yet, but …  you know, there’s lots of different ways to do it. And then it was, you know, speaking to people that were in that scene and literally, you know, even looking at the football scene then what was on the, you know, the people that were in the stands and, and that sort of thing. So a costume designer is, we do a lot of things.

We do a lot of research. We tell a story kind of visually. We work very, very closely with hair and makeup and also the art department. That’s a huge thing because there can be so many crossovers between kind of what’s costume, what’s props, what’s hair and makeup. And we have to visually make that character come to life.

Muaz

Right. So when you get approached with a commission. So for example this new show that you’re working on or shows that you worked on in the past. So how much before does someone need to approach you? Because it sounds like there’s quite a bit of research involved. There’s a lot of conversations that you need to have ahead of time with a lot of different people within the production to get an idea of what the actual actors and well, all of the participants are going to be wearing. Is it a month before? Did they start looking into these things a year before? And how does that play out? 

Deborah

Oh, my goodness for me personally, it’s very, it’s a very fast turnaround. So I have to do this very, very quickly. For some of the big feature films. They could probably get maybe six to eight months prep. Some of the big designers that do like kind of the features will get that. But for me, I get very little prep times to be quite honest, and I do it very fast, but because I’m used to doing that and because I’m used to doing entertainment, I mean, I’ve done many shows… I’ve done things like The Big Narstie Show, for Channel 4, and I’ve done the Lateish Show. And a lot of the time I can get my brief, like the day before we start filming. So I have a really, really fast turnover. I mean, I remember the very first series that I did of the Big Narstie Show and the very first day of filming, they decided like the night before, I think it was on a Sunday night that they wanted Narstie to be in a specific costume, which they were calling Rasta Jesus costume. So it was two genres. It was kind of a Jamaican and it had two genres to it. And so I literally went, the day of filming was the next day, I went fabric shopping first thing in the morning, I took the fabric to my costume maker. We did a shape. We made a, I designed a quick shape and she had it ready for me by about three or four o’clock that afternoon so that I was ready for filming in the evening. I mean, it can be that fast and that is down to the relationships that you also have with your suppliers. 

Muaz

Wow, that does sound really intense. So like when someone sends you a brief and there’s a particular turnaround time that you have to meet, what is your thought process?

Because, for example, when you said Rasta Jesus… they’re quite different visually, or at least when I think about conceptually. So just joining those and creating a unified concept and presenting it in a particular way. I mean, the loops that my mind is currently running through. So how does that work when you first get a brief and do you run through a particular visualization process, a creative process, or has it just come down to experience or do you have a particular process that you follow.

Deborah

A little bit of both, a little bit of experience, a lot of holding you nerve, your know, which you do, because I, again, because it was the night before I did a little bit of research kind of, you know, the gospel choir, that kind of thing, but obviously keeping it within a Jamaican feel because that’s, now I know Narstie quite well, but yeah, his roots and he’s very keen on it. A lot of the things we do, a lot of the sketches we do, we incorporate that. So because of his music and the grime scene, we can, you know, we sort of incorporate that. We’ve done many sketches; we did things like pride and prejudice, which we call grime and prejudice. We’ve done many of those sorts of things.

So my process is to kind of obviously get some, some visuals myself, especially with the Rasta Jesus, the gospel. Then to make it entertainment friendly and give it a bit of a vibe and make it a bit more interesting for him. We kind of chose the color between myself and the producers and I’d gone sort of gold. So it was kind of an ephemeral, you know, sort of feel. And then, you know, it’s kind of the process of going to a fabric shop. I know my fabric shops quite well, so I knew the kind of fabric I wanted and the color gold that I was after. And then going to my costume maker and knowing the turnaround time is so fast that it had to be something that she could do quickly for me. And also the Narstie was doing it almost as a “quick change” and what we call “quick change” is when you can sort of put something on and take something off very quickly without having lots of buttons on it, or, you know, it was to make those sorts of things easier. So we might velcro down the front, so it was easier and it didn’t take up too much filming time because you have to be aware of those things when you’re filming, especially with filming, you’re on a timer. So, you know, if it’s a live show, you’ve got a certain amount of minutes to do quick changes, even on prerecord they like to film it as though it’s going out live. So there’s all those sort of considerations. And also measurement wise a lot of the time, as I say, it was my first show with the first series… I hadn’t, you know, sort of, I’d met Narstie, we’d had a conversation, but you know, we did that, but then it’s also having great costume makers that come into the studio with me or my assistants that will help me. And then if we need to do anything, we can do it literally there on the set, but that is also, it takes experience.

And I feel that having gone through the way, you know, the route that I took by being a costumier and then being an assistant for many years, it gave me the ballast to be able to stand on a set and be able to do that. Cause I think people sometimes want to fast track through things. Which, you know, obviously it’s fine if you’ve got the nerve to do that, but if something goes wrong on a set and you haven’t got experience, it’s very difficult to then keep your confidence and be able to put it right. 

Muaz

Absolutely. So how did those dynamics and how do those relationships work? So as you lead up to the day of the filming and actually on the day of the filming. So for example, the day before, do you have a fitting and then on the day, how does that relationship work out? When it comes to making sure everyone is looking how they should and everything is fitting, how it should. 

Deborah

That’s a really interesting one. I would love to say that I have a fitting day but, and this is just my experience with my shows. The fast turnaround I have, a lot of the big films and a lot of the big dramas do have fittings…

So this is just from the certain things that I’ve done. And it would be an absolute luxury from my point of view to have a fitting. But I don’t, I literally go in on the filming day and I get my schedule, and then I can see where the sketches are or where the costume is on that day. And I literally have them for, I suppose, 10 minutes that I’m assigned or whatever, to put them in the costume.

And a lot of the time I don’t get measurements for new people they decide to add, or they just decide to go with, have you got an extra costume for this one or what have you. So a lot of the time, and again, this is just my experience that I… I have to put them in a costume and get them on the set within, you know, within a certain time period.

So it’s a lot of, if I need to, you know, if we need to stitch anything on somebody or, or what have you to make it fit, that’s kind of what happens. So, yes, because it can be intense, but it’s, it’s great. And it’s exciting and it’s as I say, that’s, that’s my experience from what I’ve done. Again, this job that I’ve just done now has been interesting due to lock down and it didn’t have fittings. I literally just had measurements. We went with what we did and if something wasn’t quite right, I had to extras to be able to, you know, to do to make it fit. But yeah, it is, it can be quite intense. But as I say, a lot of this happens a lot in entertainment, but in drama you do get fitting times and obviously in feature films, you will do as well.

Muaz

Right. So in order to deliver something like this in such a short time frame, what does your team need to consist of? Because I assume that there’s more than one person who has to do this because they give you a brief and then the next day you need to make sure that it’s fitting. So I assume it’s not just you, because that would be super intense.

Deborah

Yes it is, I do my prep. So, you know, I’d kind of get the brief. So I’ve got like a day to do the prep. So it is, I do my prep, I do my budgets, whatever, if it needs making, I’ll go and get the fabric. If it needs buying, I’ll go and do it. You know, I’ll go to the shops and I’ll do the buying. Obviously not during lockdown, but you know, another thing I need to do online, I do my research. And what have you, and then anything that needs hiring. I do but also the costume houses do help me as well. And then when it comes to the day when we’re filming. I’m actually quite, I give my assistants, I normally have two assistants on those sorts of shows. So I give them a lot of, you know, well, I hope I do creative input into it.

So if anything, I will always stay in the studio. And if we need, you know, somebody from production comes and says, or we’re just going to add a few things in, or we decided to add this into the show, then I will sort of send them out to the shops and send them out shopping. Luckily, when we do pick the Big Narstie Show, we are in the BBC and television centres.

So we have Westfields across the road and I will literally just sort of send them out and give them the brief and they go and do the, you know, do shopping for me or whatever. Or I’ll send them and assign them to a certain actor or, you know, celebrity that’s coming in and they look after them.

Because things like the Big Narstie show and because the Lateish Show with Mo Galligan are kind of chat shows with sketches in it, we also have to look after the guests that are coming on. So yeah, when it comes to the day, we’re very much, or, you know, altogether, and I don’t ask my assistants to do anything that I wouldn’t do.

So I’m very hands-on as well, which I think is important, but I do, I handle the budget. 

Muaz

Absolutely. So for the role of a costume designer, it sounds pretty intense. What skills do you think would make someone a successful costume designer and what kind of resources are available? If this is something that someone would want to pursue, that you have found useful in the past?

Deborah

Yeah, I think listening skills, for sure. I think that’s really important. You have to really listen to what the producer and the director and the artist want. I think that’s really important and also know the narrative of, of what you’re doing. I think enthusiasm. This is an amazing, we’re very lucky in our creative areas that we have this.

And I think, you know, to love what you do is really important as well. I mean, I was very, I want to say lucky, but I worked very hard, but I was able to go into a department. So I did. You know, I really did my background work, working for the BBC. And then as an assistant, I would say to somebody that wanted to do this job, don’t rush into it.

Try all the different areas. There’s lots of different areas from working in a costume house. To, you know, training. And I would say if you’re training, I would, you know, kind of float between different designers. If you can do, I’d say contact lots of different designers, so you can contact a designer in, on a soap or you can contact a designer that does light entertainment, like you know Strictly, which I have done. You know, I did Strictly Dance Fever many years ago, and I’ve done Strictly Celebrities as a, you know, an assistant and I’d say, try and do those sorts of jobs, try and do drama as a trainee. That sort of thing, really get an idea of what the roles are because there are so many different roles, supervisors, to assistant costume designers, to stand by, which is onset to buyers that buy for, especially the features and stuff, or even theatre, if you love the excitement of, of that sort of thing. But I would say very much watch the designer and watch what they do and really kind of take it, take an interest, I think is the thing. And obviously, you know, we’ve been there. I’ve been, you know, as a trainee, I’ve been there as a costumier, I’ve been there as an assistant.

You know, I think it’s important to, you know, if the designer is interested in your opinion, that’s amazing. But if not, we know what we’re doing. So it’s a matter of just how you can help. And I would, I’d see, there’s lots of different elements to being a costume designer, to filming, to studio work. But a lot of it is also set etiquette and that’s really important that you appreciate other departments jobs and how you behave on the sets.

And also, you know, kind of when you’re working, depending on who the artist is or who the actor is, how you are around them, you know, it’s not about being starstruck. It’s about doing a job and making, you know, a lot of actors can be nervous. A lot of performers can be nervous. There’s a real kind of skill to putting people at ease. And the main thing is, if they’re comfortable in what they’re wearing and they feel the character they are. So I would say to somebody kind of starting out, just really experiment going through the roles and really try and just, honestly, it might be a fly on the wall and watch and work round designers and take an interest in how they’ve come to the design that they’ve produced.

Muaz

The importance of traineeships and internships can not be understated. And it is super important to just at the very beginning, when you do have the opportunity to cast your net relatively wide, to get as much experience as you can, because it gives you more strings in your bow, as they say, because the more experience that you have to, to leverage later on in your career, the better. So, absolutely. I completely agree with that. 

Deborah

Yeah, I think it’s really important. And I think, you know, and this is my experience. I did not start just by jumping straight in. I literally, I was putting stock away that had come back from shows. So, you know, I really knew that, oh, that was an Edwardian piece or that, you know, that’s the sixties tie or whatever it was.

And I think those sort of things were important. I think also really love what you do. Really you have got to be influenced by everything around you. I watch other television programs and wonder how the designer has got to where they got to, you know, people in the streets. I mean, obviously it’s very difficult at the moment during this situation, but you know, it’s everything, everything is inspiration, colour, texture, people on the tube, people in a shop.

Just really observing everything around you, exhibitions, museums, everything, theater, you should be taking it all in. And I think if you’re interested in that, then you have the bones to be, you know, interested in this field. And it’s the same with fashion. You know, costume influences fashion very much so.

When I was working at the BBC, we used to get lots of fashion designers that would come in and pull all kinds of stock… From Stella McCartney’s people to Louis Vuitton, to, you know, different houses for inspiration for the next collection or how something is put together, how a pattern is put together, how the military jackets are put together.

We massively influenced fashion as does fashion influences costume, all the arts do from paintings to, you know, all sorts of things. I just, I think it’s so important, accessories, all of it just really embrace it and take it in. 

Muaz

Mentioning how designers do look into things like film and theatre for insight is actually really interesting I think. Because a lot of people, when it comes to things like cinema, theatre, one thing that it does allow people to see… It tells you what sort of designs the audience are connecting with and liking. So before we even design it, you get an insight into what people are liking. So that is an interesting take that I’ve actually heard many times in the past.

Yeah. So I absolutely agree with that because you’d want to get every advantage, especially if you’re a designer. And if you’re looking at a piece of cinema and you know, these days online, if you, for example, see that people are talking about a certain wardrobe, you know, millions of times online, then of course your ears would perk up and you’d say, okay, I need to see how this particular wardrobe is put together. So what you said makes complete sense. 

Deborah

Yeah, it’s really interesting. Especially during lockdown where people, you know, have got these mediums to be able to look at things online, watch Instagram lives or those sorts of things. You know, there are a lot of the online magazines now from Vogue to Elle to W to all of them actually interviewing costume designers for, you know, from Game of Thrones, to Bridgerton, to all of them, because of the look and the color and the texture and the, you know. I know Bridgerton especially, even though it was a Regency look, it was done in a modern way. And the costume designer, Ellen Mirojnick had actually sort of had everything made. She designed and made everything from, you know, the embellishments on, on some of the costumes and that relates back into fashion.

You will see it, you’ll see that empire like, you’ll see the, you know, some of those shapes coming back in, in a, you know, in a few seasons time as with the, you know, when there was like big military things, do you sort of Stella McCartney do a military look it’s, it’s very, you know, whether it’s sort of… You know, meant to be, whether you feel you’ve done it sort of, because you’ve seen something for whether it was just one of those things that you didn’t realize that you’d actually seen, but it’s in your, in your… 

Muaz

Absolutely, absolutely subconsciously you know, you might end up picking these things up.

Deborah

Yes, yes, absolutely. And I think it does. And I think also fashion, you know, over the years and the ages does influence costume. I think all those sorts of things are very important. So, and you know, down too, which is very sad at the moment that London, you know, the fashion weeks have had to go online.

But, you know I think even down to that, when people will, you know, when I was able to go to the shows, I was like the first season that I’ve ever missed. But you know, from watching those things online, watching students stuff, cause they get influenced as well. 

Muaz

Absolutely. And interestingly, about the fashion weeks, like one of the silver linings that has come out of this is that accessibility has increased.

By them trying to put a lot of this natively online, all of a sudden people who wouldn’t ordinarily be able to go and see a show can now go and see a show by viewing it via the designer’s website or BFCs website. You know so, that at least is a smaller positive as that is… I think that that is at least one silver lining that has come out of this.

Deborah

Yeah, absolutely. And I think it’s important. I think it’s important. You know, that they have moved with the times and done that British Fashion Counsel are incredible, as are Fashion Scout, who also do graduate fashion week. I think that to be able to do that and absolutely to make things more accessible.

And I think there’s a lot of companies now. HQ Wardrobe and people like that that are hiring, you know, designer pieces as well from fashion week. And what have you. I think those sorts of things are really important. I think it’s, you know, it’s a huge industry and we don’t want it to dwindle and go because of the situation.

We need to keep it alive and to be able to take people away from themselves and watch, you know, these shows, and feel like they’re a part of the fashion industry, you know, and how they can make it accessible through the high streets. 

Muaz

Absolutely. Because before you had to be in London or in Milan or in New York or Paris or one of the other major cities, but now you could be anywhere in the world and still be able to feel like you’re part of it.

And the more money that they spend on making this experience better, I think the better it is for everyone. 

Deborah

Absolutely. Yeah, I think it’s important. I think it’s important for anybody that’s interested in this area of fashion or costume or however, whatever medium, whether it’s through editorial imprints or whether it’s online or whether it’s on television or in a whichever way you do. I just think it’s, there’s such important industries to keep the arts going. It’s what keeps people, especially now I’ve noticed through this situation. It’s what keeps people happy. Absolutely.

You can find Deborah online at:

• Instagram: @deborahcantor

You can listen to the whole interview podcast over on our podcast page or by clicking here at Being a Costume Designer.