Costume Design and Practice

Costume design and practice is a discipline that combines historical knowledge, creative vision and technical craft to produce the clothing that characters wear in performance. Costume is a form of storytelling in its own right, communicating character, period, social status and emotion through every detail of cut, fabric and decoration. It requires designers who can read a script or brief, research a period or context thoroughly, develop design ideas visually, and then realise those ideas in fabric with skill and precision.

The field spans theatre, opera, film, television, dance and immersive performance.

At Birmingham City University, this three-year full-time programme develops your design skills and technical craftsmanship in the context of costume for performance. You will engage with the history of dress and theatrical costume, develop your ability to research and translate ideas into designs, and build practical skills in pattern cutting, construction and specialist techniques. Sustainability, systems thinking and socioeconomic dimensions of practice are woven into the programme, preparing you for a profession that is increasingly concerned with the environmental and ethical dimensions of making.

The course includes a sandwich year and a work placement, giving you direct professional experience within the costume industry and the opportunity to build a network and a portfolio in a real production context.

Graduates work as costume designers, costume supervisors, wardrobe managers, cutters and makers across theatre, film, television and the wider performance and event industries. Many graduates develop portfolio careers that combine different aspects of costume work, and some move into costume for film and television where the scale and pace of production demands different skills. Postgraduate study in costume design or theatre practice is an option for those who want to specialise further.