Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2018 - Public - 14

of the discipline. The program included
21 presentations in total, encompassing
a diverse range of themes, such as costume-centric devising, pedagogy, cuttingedge technologies, and wearable politics
and activism.
Costume-centric devising, which
uses costume as the primary catalyst
for creating new works, was a particularly popular topic. A great example was
shared by Hungarian designer Fruzsina
Nagy in her talk "Taboo Collection-Catwalk Concert," in which she presented
photos of the fabulous taboo-themed costumes she designed for a fashion concert
created in collaboration with conductor
Dóra Halas and the Soharóza choir. Costumes included a ball gown worn over
a cage crinoline that, when illuminated
from within, revealed a constellation of
cigarette smoke-emitting burn holes representing the taboo of addiction, and a
collection of stylish death-themed gowns
and sportswear constructed out of body
bags. Simultaneously outrageous, disturbing, and fun, Nagy's presentation
highlighted costume's ability to thrive
outside of scripted and character-driven

performance. Similarly, in her presentation "Romeo and Juliet: Telling the Story
Through Shoes," costume designer Eloise Kazan of Croatia and Mexico unveiled
the preliminary designs for her costumecentric reimagining of Shakespeare's
famous tragedy told exclusively through
footwear. Recalling how Sarajevan women defiantly wore impractical, yet stylish,
high heels during the war in the former
Yugoslavia in their demand for personal
autonomy, Kazan sought ways to incorporate similar shoe iconographies
into her project and solicited ideas and
feedback from session attendees. The
ensuing discussion revealed the myriad
ways that conflict and identity can be
expressed through the surprisingly rich
semiotics of footwear, and also pushed
attendees to think more broadly about
storytelling methods in performance.
Given the vast number of design
professors and students in attendance
at WSD2017, it was not surprising that
costume pedagogy emerged as another
popular topic of discussion. In a session
titled "The Costume Designer's Golden
List of Competence," design professor

Christina Lindgren of Norway asked attendees to consider whether the study
of costume should be housed in the theatre, design, or fine arts departments, arguing that as an interdisciplinary area of
study, it could conceivably be housed in
all three. Lindgren then distributed a list
of costume design skill sets and asked
the room to assess and edit its contents.
After a robust discussion, several valuable additions to Lindgren's "competencies list" were made, but the question
as to where the costume design major
should be housed was left intriguingly
unresolved.
In another teaching-themed talk,
University of Huddersfield course leader
Nadia Malik of the United Kingdom gave
details of her Costume with Textiles BA
(Hons) course. In this graduate-level
course, students are exposed to experimental approaches in costume design
using techniques like contemporary
textile surface creation and an innovative pattern-making method that uses
three-dimensional body molds to create
sewing patterns with novel design lines.
As evidenced by the highly accomplished

Jobs
WHERE THE INDUSTRY
CONNECTS

LEADING EMPLOYERS LIST JOBS
AND FIND QUALIFIED APPLICANTS
www.usitt.org/advertise/jobsusitt

14 |

THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY

|

SPRING 2018
http://www.usitt.org/advertise/jobsusitt http://historicalemporium.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2018 - Public
