The Costume Designer's Toolkit

The Costume Designer’s Toolkit explores the wide-ranging skills required to design costumes for live performance in theatre, dance, opera, and themed entertainment. Arranged in chronological order to create a design, each chapter describes tools, strategies, and techniques costume designers use to create lively and believable characters within a story environment. The book provides a step-by-step outline of the costume design process beginning with developing as an artist and creating an artistic vision for a script. It covers a wide range of topics, including:

Assessing the scope of a productionUnderstanding design thinking and the creative processProject management and budget forecastingCollaborating with and leading creative teamsCurrent practices in costume rendering and communicationMixing purchased, rented, stock, and built costumes to form a designDesigning a garment with impactFitting costumes on performersCombining grit and grace for a successful careerEach topic includes case studies and tips from experienced professionals, identifies vital skills, describes techniques, and reveals the essential elements of artistic leadership, collaboration, and cultural acumen.

The Costume Designer’s Toolkit is the perfect guidebook for the student, aspiring, or early-career costume designer, to be used alone or in costume design university courses.