Performance Costume

Performance costume is a specialist design discipline concerned with creating the costumes and garments worn by performers in theatre, opera, dance, film, television, and other performance contexts. It sits at the intersection of fashion design, historical research, materials craft, and creative storytelling, requiring designers who can interpret a brief from a director or choreographer, research period dress and cultural context, develop designs through drawing and modelling, and see those designs through construction to the stage. It is a discipline that demands both creative vision and practical rigour.

At the University of Edinburgh, which offers performance costume within its rich programme of theatre and performance-related study, this four-year full-time programme develops your design skills, construction techniques, and understanding of the creative processes that shape performance. You will study costume history, pattern cutting, textile knowledge, dyeing and finishing, and the practical craft of making garments that will work in the particular conditions of performance: under stage lighting, in motion, across multiple performances, and often to represent characters, periods, or worlds far removed from contemporary life. A year abroad is incorporated into the programme, providing the opportunity to study at a partner institution and encounter different approaches to performance costume in another cultural and theatrical context.

Graduates from performance costume programmes go on to careers as costume designers, costume makers, cutters, and costume supervisors in theatre, opera, ballet, film, and television production. The skills of the discipline also translate into related areas of fashion, historical costume, reenactment, and costume education. Further study at postgraduate level in costume design, performance design, or related areas is an option for those wishing to develop their practice or specialise in particular aspects of the field.