What is a costume bible?/What determines a costume design?/What is a costume plot?

• Costume plot - This is a chart of all of the costume changes within the show, it could include the time a person has to get changed and how realistic and practical this is.

• Initial and final designs - How your designs have dveloped over time.

• Must include accurate measurements of characters - Bust, Waist, Hip, Hieght, Arm length.

• Where to source materials and the prices of these - Considering your budget, what materials are both affordable and relevent.

• Sketches and drawings of costume ideas - Making sure that each character has a specific style that is appropriate for their characters personality. 

• Detailed information about specific add-ons - Jewellery, Zips, Buttons, Head pieces.

• Complication of all costume information - Everything about any costume in the show is in the costume bible.

• Research - Characters and the show you are working on

• Fabric samples - Ideas for which fabrics are going to be used for costume.

What determines a costume design?

• Practicality

Suitability, if there is a small acting space, you will not want a big costume as it would over power the space. However practicality means that the costume has to be appropriate if it requires somebody to be able to move with ease whilst wearing it, suit the actors physical needs.

• Budget

Making strategic decisions to use your budget to create effective costumes, there are ways of showing character and status without spending over budget.

• Time period

If you are doing a historical piece the costumes need to be factually correct to make the piece make sense to the audience, it can also help accurately show the characters status.

• Personality of character/character profile

For example colour might determine the mood or emotion of a character., if someone has a cold personality they may wear colours like blue and grey.

• Personal preference

The actor needs to feel comfortable on stage in the costume, this helps them feel confident and be able to play their character better on stage.

• Status of the character

How a character is measured against another character.

• location

Where the play is set determines what costumes are going to be designed, for example if the play was set on a beach on a sunny day the costumes need to be appropriate, it wouldn't work if the characters were wearing big coats, hats, scarf and gloves.

• Social, historical, political context

If the play is a historical or classical piece then the costumes need to be historically correct.

• Size/figure

Costumes need to fit the actor well so that they feel comfortable on stage as well as there being no risks of costume malfunction on stage.

• Colour scheme

Some colours carry different connotations for example rich colours like deep purples and blues mean weath and royalty, on the other hand more dull colours like browns and beiges suggest that a character is poor.

• Lighting

How the lighting can change the colour of a costume. Being practical, for example some lighting can make white fabrics appear see through.

• Other characters costume

It is important the all costumes in a show are as developed as each other, it wouldn't look good if one persons costume is carefully designed where there has been a lot of attention to detail and one costume that is just a t-shirt and jeans. This would suggest that the budget has not been split very carefully.

• Who are your audience?

If your audience is for children then costumes may be overly sensory for example lights, bright colours, comedic effect as well as making things over exaggerated and obvious to keep them interested and engaged. Costumes need to be appropriate for the audience.

• Original Costume

How much are you inspired by the costumes in the original production without holding you back from making creative decisions.


What is a costume plot?

A costume plot is a rundown of all of the costume changes in a show, this is not a creative thing it is a key tool used for practicality and organisation. The dresser needs this to show which costume is in which scene and how many changes they have.