BA(Hons) degree

BRISTOL OLD VIC THEATRE SCHOOL

My course was intensive, vocational and highly practical, covering all aspects of costume work.

This includes pattern drafting (flat and on the stand), costume construction, corset making (flat and on the stand), millinery, ruffs and rebatos, foundation wear, stretch wear and body padding, basic tailoring techniques, hand and machine embroidery, printing techniques, dyeing, distressing and costume enhancement. The supervisory elements include costume supervision, costume assisting and the various roles within the costume department. This includes hiring and buying to budget, wig care, basic make up, organising fittings and keeping an accurate and up-to-date costume bible, shopping to specific briefs as well as liaising with designers and directors.

LEATHERWORK

During my third year at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, I explored the uses of leather in fashion and costume over the years. Using leather as a medium to create clothing dates back to man some 50,000 years ago, around the time when early humans began to migrate from relatively warm regions of the earth to the more northerly and colder parts of the northern hemisphere. Leather is one of man’s earliest and most useful discoveries. Our ancestors used leather to protect themselves from the elements, primitive man hunted wild animals for food, then made clothing, footwear and crue tents from the hides.