Final Year Project

For my Final Year Project I chose to do Titanic the Musical as a contemporary dance. This is something that I have been able to design and make for in my own way.

I decided to stick to a historical silhouette and adapt it for my preferred genre. This allowed me to really think and be creative in how I would overcome the obstacles of a slimline silhouette. I researched in-depth the different fashion of the Edwardian era, and how I would be able to keep the look of the iconic style but allow for as much movement as possible. This took me to looking at women's skirts that focused around pleating and folds.

In terms of embroidery; which is my chosen specialisim at University, I chose to look at the shapes of the interior of the Titanic itself and Edwardian embroidery. This gave me position and shapes that I could then use to design and create.

Here is my final cast line up.

I chose to make three final costumes for my project. The characters I chose were Alice Beane; a second class passenger, Kate McGowan; a third class passenger and Jim Farrell; also a third class passenger.

I am extremely happy with how my costumes have turned out, they fit and move beautifully.

Alice Beane

Kate McGowan

Jim Farrell

Placement Year

I have just finished a year of working as a part of my University degree. I have worked with many companies within the industry specifically in the genre I am looking to go into.

I had the opportunity to work on many West End and touring shows in the UK, and I feel that I have gained lots of experience and learnt a great deal from each place. Working in wardrobe is something that I want to pursue and from being involved in this department on placement I now know how things should run, be maintained and the general work ethic for the job.

Spending a year on placement is something that I highly recommend to current students. It is something that I have throughly enjoyed, and has made me even more focused on what I plan to do once I finish University.

Second Year Photo-shoot

Here are some of the photos from my second year photo-shoot for my 'Fuchsia' costume.

Hobson's Choice

We were given a design project to design historically accurate costume for the ballet Hobson's Choice. We were able to go and see the Birmingham Royal Ballet's production which was a great experience as we had the opportunity to go back stage in the wardrobe department. Some of our designs we're sent to the BRB and my Albert Prosser design is one of the designs featured.
Here is the link; http://www.brb.org.uk/huddersfield-design.html

Here is my cast line up for my part one designs.

For the second part of the project we had to come up with a new concept for Hobson's Choice, i chose to set mine in Birmingham around an Indian family as i felt the story suited their culture. 

Here is my cast line up for part two designs.

Fuchsia Costume

I have finished my second year construction project; Fuchsia's costume for the play "Gormenghast", here are some images.

Here is the front view of my finished costume

This image shows all the embroidery on my costume (smocking and hand stitched squares)

Here is a side view

 Here is an image from the other side showing the circles

My Costume Toile

I have made up a toile for my 'Fuchsia' costume, and here it is..

This is the base layer of the costume.

This is the over layer of the costume which will have all the embroidery on it as you can see.

A message from me :)

Hey thought i'd start posting some non picture/work posts..
At the moment i'm in my second year at the university of Huddersfield. Costume design is such a wide scope as we combine it with textiles, which gives us an even wider branch. But what i'm particularly interested in is costumes for dance and musical theatre. I think they are so beautiful and amazing, then when they move it just creates this beautiful picture.
I'm due to do a placement year next year, which my course offers luckily, and i am so excited to get out there and work in the industry. I would love to be apart of a touring company or a dance program, but anything would help build my skills.
I am currently still working on my Gormenghast project, but this term we get to make our chosen design. Which is going to be so much fun, but so much hard work. I'm looking forward to seeing my design come to life and think it will be a good challenge to run away with. I will post pictures of the final costume when i've finished it in april!
Thanks and hope you are enjoying my work so far!
Dani xox