BA (Hons) in Costume Production

Course content is regularly reviewed to keep it relevant and current. Course modules are therefore subject to change.

Year 1

You will be introduced to the academic and intellectual skills that you will need for study and professional development. Modules you will undertake during year 1 include but are not limited to:

• Introduction to Costume Production: This module lays the foundation for your training and education and introduces you to the principal costume production methods used throughout the programme.
• Costume Silhouette and the Body: The relationship between costume, the physicality of the performer, and historical and cultural ideas of body shape and silhouette is central to costume design and making. This module introduces you to period foundation garments and the support and body shape they can create.
• Maker and Designer in Collaboration: This module draws together your learning from the previous modules in level 4 and prepares you for realised production work in levels 5 and 6. You will be introduced to the various aspects of the relationship between costume maker and costume designer, and you will work on an individual project in collaboration with a designer.
• The Practitioner in Context: The module lays the foundation for your studies throughout your programme. You will be introduced to learning, researching, analysing and investigation techniques. You will develop key skills that will enable you to become an increasingly independent learner and practice researcher.

Year 2

Your skills will be further developed towards a level appropriate to professional work. You will be given experiences that simulate professional contexts. Modules you will undertake during year 2 include but are not limited to:

• Complex Costume Making Techniques: You will learn a range of craft skills for fabric dyeing, painting and breaking down, and be introduced to the areas of millinery, wigs and hairstyles, both in terms of techniques and as elements within an overall costume design informed by period, fashion, character and narrative.
• Production Practice and Preparation: This module provides you with two opportunities at Level 5 of working in a production team on realised productions, which act as a simulation of professional practice.
• Period Costume: You will make a garment in half-scale, using a pattern drawn from a specified published source.
• Costume for Film and TV: This module will focus on the role of the Costume Standby in a working TV and Film environment. You will start with pulling the costumes and working on the design brief for the characters and move on to dressing, alterations and working on continuity on set.

Year 3

You are expected to be a self-directed learner in year 3. Module study options include, but are not limited to:

• Costume Practice: The module gives you practical experience of the costume production process from design to post-performance. The module allows you to undertake one or more roles (typically two), as a costume maker and/or as wardrobe supervisor, so that you can either broaden your experience or focus on one area, according to your career aspirations.
• Industry Study: This module focuses on the business, industry and professional environments you are likely to encounter as a practitioner. With tutorial guidance, you will select an employment sector to examine in more detail, interrogating the work methods, processes and employment ecology of the sector.
• Professional Preparation: This module focuses on your professional development and will help you to make the transition from study to work in your chosen field. As a professional practitioner, you will need to make use of a range of networks and channels of communication, both formal and informal, to find work.

We aim to put you in front of and amongst the profession. This includes the opportunity to network and undertake a placement as well as introduce your work to the industry at our graduate exhibition in London.

Careers options

Studying an arts-related subject gives you a wide range of skills that can be put to use in many careers. Recent graduates have gone on to become:

• Costume Makers and Wardrobe Supervisors (for theatre, opera, circus, film and cruise liners)
• Costume standby and trainees in film and TV
• Dressers
• Merchandisers and window dressers
• Independent retail owners
• Textile and design technology teachers
• Buyers and procurement officers

Teaching and assessment methods

In your first year, you will complete around 430 hours of indicative scheduled learning and teaching activities and 770 hours of independent learning on projects, productions, placements or self-directed study. Assessment will be through Coursework, presentations, assessed tutorials and portfolios.

In your second year, you will complete around 430 hours of indicative scheduled learning and teaching activities and 770 hours of independent learning on projects, productions, placements or self-directed study. Assessment will be through Coursework, presentations, assessed tutorials and portfolios; and Continuous practical assessment.

In your third year, you will complete around 350 hours of indicative scheduled learning and teaching activities and 850 hours of independent learning on projects, productions, placements or self-directed study. Assessment will be through Coursework, presentations, assessed tutorials and portfolios; and Continuous practical assessment.