Category Archives: Costume Designers

Costume Designers, How-To

Deep Theory, Ideas for Show Concepts

THE IDEA COMES FIRST: There is a strange notion when you first begin designing costumes that some how “high concept” must translate to “high budget” or it isn’t possible. I’m not exactly sure where one acquires this stupid idea, but we, the design students at College of Marin and S.F. State, all had it.

This is simply wrong. Imagination, forethought, and unified concept are the three cheapest things you can do for a show, a fact that our professors attempted to hammer into us in vain. In fact, my post graduate experience showed me that usually these things can make a show happen more cheaply. At all events,there is no excuse for not having them, simply because your budget is small. You need to look at the play script, and talk to your director about ideas even before you talk about money. If you have the right idea, there will be a way to make it happen, money or not. It is ideas in design that get the ball rolling, once you have them, money often becomes irrelevant.

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Advice, Costume Designers, How-To

Idea Stealing

IDEA STEALING: Ideas rarely, if ever, flow spontaneously forth in original brilliance from a mind untouched by outside influences. God does not, in costume design, tap lightly on your shoulder and tell you the All New Perfect And Inspired Way to design Miss Julie for your graduate design seminar. Some people’s designs may look like She did, but She didn’t. Design is a process that works out of, and through, many pieces of information, from costume history, to cultural perceptions of color, to actor’s body proportions, to budget realities, and more. Trying to design costumes without being influenced by outside factors is therefore, pointless.

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Costume Designers, How-To, Teaching

Flex Your Head Mental Aerobics: Exercises for Inducing Creativity Non-Spontaneously

NON SPONTANEOUS CREATIVITY: Sounds like an oxymoron, right? Wrong. All the methods described in the previous chapter can be used to induce creative thought, as well as save creative thoughts acquired earlier. Besides which there are other more active things you can do to get your mind working.

DRAWING ON THE CREATIVE IMAGINATION: Betty Edwards, the author best known for her ground breaking book of drawing instruction: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, wrote another great but lesser-known book called Drawing on the Creative Imagination. This book is full of practical exercises for developing creativity, easy to follow by anyone over the age of seven. I recommend you buy it an d read it ASAP. In addition, reading her work has suggested to me a number of crazy ways to tap into your subconscious design talents. They are:

Remember please, these are brain-flexing exercises so they will be strange sounding. Many of these ideas can be done by whole classes or groups at once.

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Costume Designers, How-To

Faking Creativity

Faking It: Probably the most important set of skills for a costumer are those various means of faking things, from the simple means of letting gold paint and hot glue pass for embroidery, to the complex means of “faking” creativity. The latter, is probably the most important skill in a costumer’s art and life since she [Sorry I’m being sexist, yes, guys make great costumer’s too, I’ve just had a problem with generically using “he” as a personal pronoun since 7th grade English.] has to create on demand, and can’t wait for her mood or muse to strike.

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Advice, Costume Designers, Costume Studio, How-To, Jobs, Photography

The Old c. 1995 Costumer’s Manifesto “Book” that started before I thought to start putting this stuff on the internet in 1996….

A Book of General Advice for Costumers

 By Tara Maginnis Ph.D. The first “self-help” manual for those artists who make clothes for imaginary people.

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Costume Designers

The Costumer: Tara Maginnis, Ph.D.

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Tara Maginnis started writing the original version of The Costumer’s Manifesto web site in August 1996. Many portions of The Manifesto began as published and unpublished articles written by Tara while on leave in Russia during 1994-95.

Tara is also the author/performer of Theatrical Makeup Design Interactive, a DVD-ROM/Streaming Video series for teaching or learning Theatrical Makeup application and design. She is currently a Costume Designer and Instructor working in Northern California at Diablo Valley College. Previously she was a Professor of Theatre at the University of Alaska Fairbanks from 1990-2007. Tara was awarded her Doctorate in Drama (Theatre History) at the University of Georgia in 1991, Her M.A. in Drama (Theatrical Design) from California State University Fresno in 1985, and her B.A. in History (European) from San Francisco State University in 1981. Tara was born and raised in Northern California.  You can see her portfolio & resume at TaraMaginnis.com

Tara has written numerous articles (a selection of which you can also see at TaraMaginnis.com) for Theatre Design and Technology, the Journal of The United States Institute of Theatre Technology and The Virtual Costumer, journal of the Silicon Web Costumer’s Guild. Tara also was the computer columnist for The Costume Research Journal, the former quarterly publication of the USITT Costume Commission. Tara has published articles in Costume, Theatre Crafts (now TCI), and The Ladies’ Gallery as well as other magazines and newsletters. She is also a member of The Costume Society of America, (and a former member of the Region V board), The Costume Society (UK), The International Costumer’s Guild, Greater Bay Area Costumer’s Guild and Costumer’s Guild West.

Tara also gives workshops and presentations on Costume Distressing, Instant Onstage Costume Changes, Beginning Thermoplastics, Advanced Hot Glue Work, Theatrical Makeup, Photographing Stage Makeup, Costume Rendering, Banyans, and more at Costume College, Costume Con, USITT, KCACTF, etc.