Creating Characters from the Skin Out

How we dress reflects who we are and by effectively dressing a character as a costume designer, we enhance the world of the performance or play.

A costume designer is a person who critically analyzes a character in a play or performance from the written word and movement then dresses the actor or performer from the skin out. The costume designer takes into consideration the actor and the character’s physical attributes, gender, personality, time period, culture, social and economic background while addressing the conflicts that the character experiences in the performance.

This thesis portfolio will include images and descriptions of my costume design portfolio, including clothing, makeup and wig work at the University of Iowa. This portfolio contains both realized productions photos, renderings and projects from class work. This document highlights my development over the course of my Master of Fine Arts education.

My entire thesis portfolio can be found at https://ir.uiowa.edu/theatre_d_folio/.