Costume design and making - Project Briefs

 For my main project I was searching for as many as possible practical involvements in productions as an assistant costume maker. With this intention, I went to the costume department of Trent University and met who is the course leader for BA Costume Design and Making. We discuss my future practice and she gave me the following project briefs in order to build a costume portfolio:

Project 1: Strictly Come Dancing



It aims to design 2, male and female costumes, for the BBC show "Strictly come dancing" for one of the following dancing disciplines: Paso Doble, Argentine Tango, Viennese Waltz, Quick Step, providing possible fabric samples for their manufacturing. The project requires 2 pieces of flat artwork, a record of the research process made and the material samples.

Project 2:  Recognise Record
This second project tests our history period accuracy in terms of garment shapes. The research should be based on 3 given years and explore the form, silhouettes and items used to create these shapes (panniers, improvers, panty girdles, brasiers, bum pads, false rumps, stocks or padding, heels, etc.). The years given are 1630, 1860 and 1970. They will be illustrated with a male and a female outfit drawn for each year.

Project 3: The Nutcracker
This aims requires a creation of a whole set of costumes for the Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s

two act ballet of 1892, “The Nutcracker”. Overall artwork consists of sketches for 20 costume designs. The costumes should not be created within the classical tradition but following a modern interpretation of the piece. They should also consider the ballet requirements for costumes.






n.d. [digital image], Strictly Come Dancing Logo. Mirror. Available at: http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/strictly-come-dancing-line-up-2013-2104602 [Accessed 12.02.2014]
n.d. [digital image], Newest Fashion For May 1829: Morning & Evening Dresses. Wikipedia. Available at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1829-Morning-Evening-Dresses-World-of-Fashion-May.jpg [Accessed 12.02.2014]
n.d. [digital image], The Nutcracker Ballet. Coloribus. Available at: http://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/prints/the-nutcracker-ballet-the-nutcracker-755905/ [Accessed 12.02.2014]