COSTUME DESIGNER-

My involvement with costume design probably started with my first Halloween costume at the age of eight. I cut up a blue bed sheet and hand stitched an elf costume; boots, a tunic and a cape. No one showed me how, I just did it. In my adolescent days, I set trends with how I was dressing. I’d scavenge second hand stores and my friend’s attic trunks, always insisting on wearing old dresses and accessorising my look with modern day flair. At my boyfriend’s graduation, (I was a year younger) he wore the classic black top hat and tails with white spats on his shoes, and a golden headed walking stick. I wore a long black chiffon gown, white satin gloves and my hair in ringlets hanging to my shoulders. Everyone went crazy; black was not the norm for the occasion. The following year, many couples copied our style. I knew then that I had a sense of style that influenced others.

Later on, I became a dancer first and a costume designer second. Sometimes, I danced in the pieces that I had created the costumes for, and at other times, I watched my designs dance on stage without me. It was such a thrill! This was a passionate, prolific, and creative period in my life. In these years, I attempted to capture the meaning of the dance in the costumes.

Today, returning to costume design gives me a fresh attempt to capture dance; collecting ideas and putting them into some collage of inspiration, mixing and matching to find the final design that will accompany a choreographer’s work to the stage.

Website: http://fousdemiseenforme.weebly.com/styliste-et-couturiegravere.html