USITT: How did you get started in costume design?
Monday, November 02, 2015
Member Spotlight: Kucharski Expands the World of Costume Design
USITT: How did you get started in costume design?
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USITT: How did you get started in costume design?
6 comments:
Not that I would lie, but honestly, I love hearing how people fell into Technical Theatre.
This article at a glance seems so casual, however, this man is so accomplished. It helps me to reflect on what my chosen path and career goals are.
What I love most about this is his unconventional career. I think that in retrospect I was close minded in terms of what I could do with my theatre degree. Costume Design to me used to mean on-stage and films only. Reading articles like these help me to open my mind to the possibilities of costume and other types of design off the stage and screen. I never stopped to think about the teams and designers it takes to create an entire theme park. It's like a "whole new world." Pun intended. Disney seems like an incredible company to work for. There are so many jobs that fall within a design team.
Hearing about the USITT conference is comforting. It's nice to know that there are conferences and networks outside of CMU SOD to connect the people in theatre community.
I love reading professional designers’ stories about how they got started in design, and what their experiences have been in the “real world”, because being in the safe bubble of theater school, it’s easy to forget about what happens when you graduate. It’s comforting to hear that Kucharski didn’t have a very direct or organized path to the successful design career he has today, because it shows that you don’t need to know exactly where you plan to be when you’re out of school, or even be sure of what your plans are when you’re still in school. It’s also very exciting to hear about the wide variety of work he has had the opportunity to do, from Disney and other themed entertainment venues to teaching and conferences. I always forget, as a teenager, that there is so much time ahead of me to do creative work, so it is always nice to have a reminder of all the opportunities that may await us as adult artists. I hope that I will be able to have as diverse of a career path within scenic design/ creation as Kucharski has been able to have within the world of costumes. I think his involvement with his blog and social media is also important to note, and I wonder if this will become more and more commonplace for designers in the future.
I fell in love with costume design as an art form because it is in many ways an amalgam of all the art forms I have ever loved. Just like Kucharski says, "I followed theatre into high school, and costume design just stuck for me. It was the crossroads of so many things I loved: storytelling, history, psychology, and clothing." Never has a quote by a fellow designer resonated so directly with my story. So much of costume design is about observation, being aware of design, why it is done the way it is, how it is changing in our world and who is changing it. But often I think we seem to forget that it is also a matter of human and historical observation. What's the story behind the garment? What's the psychological reason this character woke up and put on this outfit today? Why is this specific garment representative of that? Kucharski's relation of costume design to storytelling, history, psychology and (I would like to add, lastly) clothing is a reminder of the principles driving the way we design and the way in which today's technology and evolving designers reflect these.In so many ways, designers are using the same principles they always have to produce good work. And, instead of waiting for technology to catch up, they are moving forward in their design techniques and justifications and letting technology come to them when it's ready. All of this just goes to show that at the core of any good modern design choice is a powerhouse background of the same thousand different skills and areas of expertise which have always contributed to costume design (whether we have always been aware of them or not). Kucharski's perspective is inspiring - he carries the past into the future with all due respect and hope for what new tech could mean to old wisdom. With people like him in the business, keeping all the rest of us updated through his blog, costuming is sure to make great strides.
I love this article for showing the other side of costumes, that I think isn't always exhibited on this blog, which I cherish a lot. And that is the world of costumes among other avenues of entertainment. I have never even thought of designing costumes in video games until just now. I mean obviously someoen has to do it! And the fact that he designed costumes at Disneyland? I had no idea that was even a possibility. This actually totally opened my eyes to things that I would lvoe to do but would never have even known. I'm glad he's teaching at Baylor, too, a school I was accepted into. They might benefit from some liberal views from the industry.
I'm glad he cited his favorite costume designers of those from TV. Thats one place I'd like to end up, and it is a difficult job, finding new fitting costumes each week for a show. It's an ongoing process.
But, this article definitely left me thinking about career possibilities. I would lvoe to design costumes for Disney or games.
I never miss a chance to read or watch interviews with costume designers to learn about their background and how they fell into the industry. It is hard to imagine successful, well-respected designers as timid college freshman unsure of where they are and what they want to be. It provides me with the assurance that these designers were in my shoes not too long ago!
Never having heard of this blog, I will be sure to check it out in the future as I would love to learn more about artists and the wide variety of projects that costume designers are working on all around the country. Kucharski's designs for stage are clearly influenced by his time at Disney, making it all the more clear that being a "costume designer" does not immediately box you into film or Broadway--there's so many other options for these designers to investigate a more technical side with theme park costumes or imaginative with designing for video games. The opportunities are endless, making it all the more exciting to get out into the real world and find your niche.
This was a really cool article for me to come across because I am such a fanatic follower of the Tyranny of Style Blog! Kucharski has such an interesting perspective and story! It sounds very similar to mine! I got so excited when his reasons for loving costume design-storytelling, history, psychology, and clothing- were so similar to mine! It is exciting to see successful people and know that could be you someday because they started from the bottom and worked through too! It is so exciting all the places he has worked, yet it was not a smooth direct path. It took stopping and starting and changing schools to get there, which is a terrifying concept to most, but he got there none the less which is really inspirational. Another great thing is I learned a bit about the costume world through this article, not just Kucharshi’s life. One of my goals is to design for theme parks and disney and I was never completely sure what the route to get there was. Now I have a starting point with Custom Characters!
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