This program is intended for the graduate students preparing for and committed to a professional / academic career in costume design and technology. 

We provide a program balanced in costume construction techniques and production and the artistic techniques and practices of the costume designer. We believe that this is consistent with most jobs in the field and that each stage of the process requires complete understanding of the others

Class contents may vary slightly for the purpose of ensuring that each student may experience a wide variety of periods and styles and balancing the production range of the year. The curriculum provides four costume design courses and the opportunity to take rendering twice as the stage design students do and to focus work in figure drawing, painting and other media. Color exercises and textile history and identification are part of Costume Design I among the courses. History of costume is usually included in that course but is also available and recommended in the Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design department.

We have benefited greatly by an exchange of students with the TMFD department by having students take courses among:

• fashion illustration
• draping
• apparel design II
• history of costume
• history of textiles
• surface design
• socio-psychological aspects of clothing

This is particularly beneficial in that the students have contact with other professors and different resources. Likewise, some masters students from the TMFD program have chosen 6-9 credit minors in Theatre Costume as part of their programs.

Graduate students with teaching assistantships are also responsible for supervision of student help, organization of stock, patterning and cutting according to level of experience and thereby develop a construction portfolio and familiarity with the facilities and responsibilities they will assume with employment. You must take a stage makeup course if you have not had it or if you wish to have the opportunity to teach the course for experience while here.