What Does It Take To Be A Costume Designer?

Costume designing is an awesome career as many professionals get to work on movie sets, productions and other faucets of media designing clothes for the actors and performers. While a career in costume design is certainly fascinating, it can be very demanding, grueling and time consuming.

Costume designers are nothing more than fashion designers that develop wardrobes, footwear, accessories and other apparel. The task is to design costuming that most accurately depicts the script or the director's vision.

Becoming a costume designer requires extensive education in the field of fashion design. Income in contingent on work experience and expertise. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that on average, costume designers make a heck of a living, earning anywhere between $20,000 $100,160 per year.

Education

Costume design students obtain their degree from either a two- or four-year institution. Enrolling in this particular fashion field may require students to take part courses such as theater arts, set design, tech, and film and TV production. After graduating, costume designers are considered fashion professionals. Recent grads are generally encouraged to start working with with directors, producers and the production teams to gain experience and build a portfolio.

Internships

Interships are kinda, really important if a costume designer needs to develop a resume or portfolio and to well...eventually get more work. Most grads lock down an internship while attending school or immediately after graduation. Internships are just so important because they give students valuable hands-on experience on what it really means to work for a major production. Earnings are mostly minimal because its always first about gaining experience -- at best, costume designers can expect to make between $500 to $2000 per production. Other Internships may only pay designers through a stipend which can cover their travel needs, room and board, and costume equipment/material expenses.

Entry-Level

While internships help students transition from school to in-field assignments, entry level is about working full time with a particular production company. Duties entail scouring thrift stores and rental outlets for clothing material and being responsible for doing the handy-work, sewing and repairing garments and the like on set. Some entry-level costume designers work as assistants to skilled or top-level costume designers on specific tasks and projects. Expect to make between $1,000 to $10,000 working as an entry-level costume designer.

Skilled

Skilled or experienced costume designers may make between $15,000 to $30,000 per production. At this level, costume designers can be found working more closely with their top-level costume designers superiors, as well as with directors and other production staff members to come up with ideas for costuming that fully depict the time period of the film or play. Skilled designer must study all scripts and do their homework on appropriate costume styles, while working with tailors and entry-level costume designers on finalizing these plans and making them come into fruitation.

Top-Level

Top-level costume designers work closely with top producers, directors and the whole talent team to collaborate and conceptualize costume ideas. You will find that most top-level costume designers develop their own master sketches, are apart of managing costume fittings, and finalizing the last say in set costumes, props, and other fashions for the film or production. Top-level designers earn bank as their talent, expertise and experience rules: $50,000 to $150,000 per year.