How I became a Costume Designer...
I always wanted to be a Fashion Designer since I was a young child and as soon as I could put a pencil to paper (or perhaps a crayon back then) I started to sketch the human form and all sorts of costume, fashion and accessories to go onto it.
So from years of drawing and designing I was convinced this is all I wanted to do. I had told my mother that she would make the clothes as she was a great seamstress and I would design them and we would work together when I was older. She did encourage and thought me to knit and how to thread and needle and use a sewing machine.
I did art all through school and continued to sketch at home until many a sketch pad ran out of space with mostly female designs. In secondary school I picked art as a subject for my junior and leaving certificate exams and all I cared about was doing great in them to get me into college. I did want to do well in my other subjects but art took over to say the least.
Nearing the second half of secondary school I shared my dream with my art teacher and asked her to help me build a good portfolio that would get me into college. She tried to steer me towards a more sensible and realistic career as she tried to be a fashion designer and it did not work out so she did not want me to get my hopes up! I did not listen as I do not believe that anyone cannot do anything they want to do so I ignored her warning and I was very happy that I did. My mother started thinking the same thing because she thought I should work in an office.
At the end of school I got the results I wanted from art and went on to do a one year portfolio course to enhance my portfolio before I applied for the best fashion course in Dublin which was in the National College for Art and Design. I had great fun doing this course and learned a lot from it. I learned graphics, photography, painting, sculpturing, screen printing etc and it all helped in my progression in art and design.
Although I was enjoying the course thoroughly and the direction I was going, when it came to the end of the year and when gathering my portfolio together I seen that there was a Costume Design, make up and wig course in the college that I was already in. This intrigued me as I had never heard of Costume Design specifically and never really thought of it to be honest even though I enjoyed pantomime and theatre. When I enquired into it I found it really interesting and it changed my mind about going into Fashion for the moment.
The course included Costume making, theory, and design along with stage make up and styling and making wigs. I loved the combination of creative aspects to it. So I applied for the course and got in. I can safely say these two years where one of the best times in my life to date.
We learned everything from learning how to sew, using a sewing machine, an over locker, pattern drafting, designing costumes, learning all about the stages through history of costume and fashion, different types of fabrics, manipulating fabric, designing from a script coming up with a costume plot for every character and scene and then actually making costumes for assignments and productions and the biggest challenge was making a period costume at the end of the course.
In the first year we made many a costume and had our first production "Godspell" and helped the second years with their main production of a Shakespeare's play. It was a real insight to the costume world and what was involved. I was starting to really enjoy it.
After the first year in college I received a missed call from an unknown number and when I listened to my voice mail I nearly had heart failure because I could hear most of it but not all of it. I listened to it again when I got home to try figure how I would call this person back. The gist of it was that this employer wanted to hire me to work on the film "King Arthur" for the summer and she had got my number of so and so. Immediately I rang the contact she gave and asked what it was all about and for the number to call back.
When I called back, the lady Sandra said that she was wondering if I would be interested working on the film in the Wig Department for the summer at least and that it would be long hours and it would not be based in Dublin. I did not need to think twice and said yes right away.
I met with the production team and a few of my classmates that got the call too and we started working away on the biggest budget film that ever came to Ireland to date. We worked in Wicklow mountains and lived in holiday homes 5 days of the week and went home at weekends (mainly to sleep). We were working 80 hours a week some weeks when there was a lot of extras. We were styling and placing wigs on all the extras on the film which was up to 900 at one time. We had an amazing time and loved every minute of it even though it was tiresome work.
We all tried to delay going back to college a few days so we could continue to work on the film as long as possible but soon enough we were dragged back as our tutor had work for us to do and could not let us stay any longer. We did not mind too much we were just so grateful for the experience and the money was brilliant. It also gave you the confidence that you could get a job out of this work and a great one at that.
So back to college we went for our second year where myself and my classmate received another job! This time a freelance job that we did not tell our tutor about because we were supposed to be diligently working on our final project, The Period Costume (which took 5 weeks to make)! An advertising company approached us to make costumes for their "Lords of the Leap" Christmas campaign for a photo shoot that would be featured in a popular Irish newspaper.
We worked out of hours and got two costumes made in the theme of Robin Hood for two dancers one male one female that would be leaping into the air for the killer shot. We only got rough sizes of the dancers and thankfully the costumes fit perfect on the day. The photo shoot was good crack and we had a lot of fun, although we realised we were underpaid in comparison to the dancers but we did not mind as we were still quite rich from the film work and we were only starting out.
Back in college we had already made exquisite garments eg: corsets, bodices and started working on our third production of "The Winters Tale" by William Shakespeare. We both received two characters each to work on although I drew the last straw and had to make three. I would not of minded but one of those characters was the king therefore one of the main characters. We picked out material and went over budget by a mile and the principal was not happy but told us to make it look like we went over budget. So we worked hard and the production was a great success.
In the middle of the second year we were each assigned our work experience. I was picked to work on a pantomime "Cinderella" for the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin City Centre, which was a prestigious theatre in Dublin and Ireland for that fact, therefore I was over the moon! Myself and two other classmates worked for two weeks before the start of the production for 6 days a week, 10 to 10 at night some days. It was hard but I really loved it and did not care about the hours. It made me realise just like film that it is not all glamour and glitz that you would think, more like running under the stage back and forth throughout the whole theatre non stop to different dressing rooms and running to one of end of Dublin to another on foot with bags of costumes either collecting them or buying materials. The actors can treat you like crap if you let them and the staff just the same as we had a Fashion Designer over us and she blamed every error she made on us because she did not know the lingo or what certain garments where in costume. That was quite stressful but we ignored her our tutor told us to a lot of the time and she was the Costume Designer on the whole play so she was the one to listen to. We received a pass as a mark from the Fashion Designer which deemed a tad unfair for the work we did but not to worry we moved on and enjoyed our experience and took as much as we could from it.
After this college was nearing an end and we finished our Period Costumes ... finally. Mine was from the year 1485 for which I used a royal navy velour with cream and gold brocade trimmings and cream chiffon with navy ribbons for detail. It turned out great although it was a huge challenge as most of it had to be hand sewn on the outside to resemble the way they would have sewn it in 1485.
Finally we had to showcase all of our best work in an exhibition which was great fun and got us some contacts into the industry. We also had to wear our Period Costumes on the open day of the college which was hilarious but it felt really nice walking around in such garment that to us was our best piece of art.
When we graduated we were given a big surprise and told that we had raised the standards of the course to a Diploma as it was only a Certificate course beforehand and the principle was not as annoyed anymore that we went over budget as he was quite proud of the results. This was the icing on the cake for all of us.
After college I worked in a bank for the summer to gain some office experience as a back up to please my mother and get her off my back. During that period I started making costumes for people I knew and formal wear and for production companies that rang the college and offered me work that I could do at home from my room with my little sewing machine. Then I went around Dublin with my big leather portfolio approaching costume mills and film sets to ask Costume Designers to sign a form for me to get into the Union where it would be easier to get picked for jobs.
When I approached one of the costume designers on my list, she asked me what I was up to and if I was working at the moment? I told her I was only working from home doing costumes for productions and other bits and bobs I got. She asked me if I wanted to work on the film "The Honeymooners" I said of course I would love to. She told me that the one thing she expects off her girls that work for her is no bitching. I said I would keep out of any drama because I agreed with her that it was best to stay out of all that especially if you are working up to 14 hours a day with these people.
I started working on "The Honeymooners" that starred actor's like Cedric the Entertainer etc. I enjoyed it. It was filmed in Shelbourne race course and was all about a greyhound. The film did not turn out great but I learned a lot on it. I was dressing people in what I thought they should wear for their role in the film which was a new role as in styling. I was put in the men's changing room which was a tad awkward as I did not know where to look when they were dressing. I did anything from pressing clothes, organising, sewing small things, being on set, bringing blankets to extras when the Director yelled cut to keep them warm. We worked some night shoots which took its tole on me as I was eating my dinner at 12.30 at night and it kind of messed with my body clock. It was quite tiring as the films always are but good fun too. A lot of the girls tried to involved me in their dramas which I just ignored as I did not want to loose my job for something so ridiculous.
During this filming another costumer designer was calling all the time asking were there any spare staff to help her on her film she was working on but we could not abandon what we were doing, plus I was working under Joan Bergin. One of Ireland's top costume designers if not the best in the film industry in Ireland.
It came to an end and I wondered where I would work. My boss on "The Honeymooners" got me some work on the film "Breakfast at Pluto". I was called to Grangegorman mental hospital to start work which I thought very strange. It turned out that we were using a space in the hospital to stock all the costumes and maintain them before they were going to be needed. Liam Nielson and Cillian Murphy were starring on this film. I was slightly excited ;) I really wanted to see them both as I love them as actors and Cillian Muprhy is hot. Unfortunately, the day I was due to go on set I was really sick due to my body clock being all over the place with no time to recover from the last film so I never got to see them. That work was short and I started to feel like I needed a stable job for when this money ran out. I got an office job and decided I would do all my work from home in relation to costume.
I continued to work and make costumes for production companies, friends, family and through word of mouth. I was starting to get known everywhere for being a costume designer that can do anything (even though it was not true) but I succeeded in any new challenge I received. I made clothes for myself that people loved. I made debutant dresses etc but when more requests kept coming for making clothes I had to start turning the work down as I am not a fashion designer by trade so I was limited to what I could do.
I learned a lot since then and worked in the Abbey Theatre after work at night helping with two plays, worked with the Supreme's doing their wardrobe along with Garfunkel. I then went into the make up and hair side of things and did a few fashion shows with contestants from Britain's Next Top Model and Jodie Marshes girlfriend. I have been fortunate to land on my feet all the time but it is because I believed in myself and my skills and you can do it too if you have passion for it the world is yours!
Nowadays I have my own accessory business where I make pin up girl headbands, hair bows, scarves, shoe clips etc. It is called Pin Me Up Ireland
www.facebook.com/pinmeupireland
I have a long run with costume and needed to change things up so I went back to college and became a graphic designer and I still do my bits from home but get to work at what I love which is design full time. I hope this helps you in your quest to become a costume designer as it is easier than you think. Once you get to know a few people you will in demand. Best of luck to you future costume designers out there.
