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Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Costume Designers Guilds Awards Shine a Spotlight on Artists
Variety: In the age of Instagram, costume designers have used social media to introduce legions of fans to their art, with names such as Sandy Powell, Arianne Phillips, Colleen Atwood and Mary Zophres earning superstar status.
Yay!! This makes me so incredibly happy. I believe that all technical jobs in theater deserve more recognition than they receive, specifically in interviews and features. All of the names mentioned in this article, such as Sandy Powell and Mary Zophres, have done stunning work. Their designs have helped establish the stories of a variety of films, and these films have gone on to shape society in ways that maybe we do not even realize. That deserves way more recognition because films (specifically the costumes in films) have the power to affect society just as much as Kylie Jenner’s Instagram profile. Also, I love that the Costume Designers Guild is getting Mindy Kaling to host the CDG Awards. From all of her interviews and speeches, I can tell that Mindy is an extremely grounded human being, especially in the context of the entertainment industry. She is an actress, but she got her start in the foundation of storytelling: writing. She understands the work that designers do, and she appreciates and relates to it. Her presence will hopefully draw more attention to these powerful designers, allowing their work to finally bring credit to the minds that imagined them.
As someone who is pursuing a career in technical theatre, I often describe my role to non - theatre people as the "backstage" elements. I am starting to notice this is no longer the terminology I want to use when describing my desired career. Often times in a theatre critic or review, if there are a limited number of words or page requirements, the first people to get "cut" are the designers. Meaning that often times the work of technical theatre professionals (who there arguably would not be a show without), go unrecognized. This awards ceremony to honor costume professionals is so exciting, as it shines a light on one of the most beautiful aspects of theatre. It is so important to honor and recognize designers and technical professionals with the same degree as actors and directors because they are an integral part of putting together a piece of theatre, movie, or television show.
This is something I have actually been noticing a lot recently, and its awesome to see someone put it into words. Just in the last month I actually started following three of the four designers listed in the first paragraph on Instagram, and I will probably go follow the last one once I finish writing this comment. There is just such a sense of community that I can already feel in the world of costumes that is really exciting as an aspiring designer, and with the issues that we have been seeing in this awards season and numerous times in the past, it feels right that different disciplines would start creating their own awards that better capture the work done by their people (and provide better representation, which is easier to tackle in a smaller organization if issues do arise). The Costume Design Guild is also able to address issues like pay parity between costume design and other technical fields because costumes is a field primarily comprised of women. It is just really nice to see that there is a group in the industry that is waiting for us as future designers that will advocate for and accurately represent our skills and expectations from the industry that we are joining.
I think it is absolutely wonderful that costume designers are finally getting more exposure. Social media can be an amazing outlet when used correctly. I did not know that the costume design guild awards were created to promote costume design in general. The president of the guild Perez talks about how the costume technology has grown over the years. I am very impressed that the guild hosts seminars so that the costume designers can learn about the new technology in their field. Perez also explains that pay parity is an issue that Costume Designers Guild is trying to address. Because costume designers are mostly women they tend to be paid less than production designers who are mostly men and yet the jobs are comparable which is very frustrating. I love that the guilds awards feature more specific categories for their awards such as best period, contemporary, and sci-fi/fantasy costumes.
I think that when lay people think about awards and recognition in the entertainment industry, they probably immediately go to the Oscars or the Grammy’s or some other performance-centric type of public recognition. It often feels like (probably because it is an unfortunate reality) that, when someone needs to cut a couple of words or features of a piece of theatre, the designers are nearly always the first to go. I think it is wonderful that they Costume Designers Guild also acknowledges all of the nuances within the costume genre. At awards shows such as the Oscars, I would think that it would be difficult to look at pieces of roughly the same caliber, but that demanded extraordinarily different things and judge them on the same criteria. It is also great that they feature performers and non-costumers who have been especially strong creative collaborators to those in the costume industry.
5 comments:
Yay!! This makes me so incredibly happy. I believe that all technical jobs in theater deserve more recognition than they receive, specifically in interviews and features. All of the names mentioned in this article, such as Sandy Powell and Mary Zophres, have done stunning work. Their designs have helped establish the stories of a variety of films, and these films have gone on to shape society in ways that maybe we do not even realize. That deserves way more recognition because films (specifically the costumes in films) have the power to affect society just as much as Kylie Jenner’s Instagram profile.
Also, I love that the Costume Designers Guild is getting Mindy Kaling to host the CDG Awards. From all of her interviews and speeches, I can tell that Mindy is an extremely grounded human being, especially in the context of the entertainment industry. She is an actress, but she got her start in the foundation of storytelling: writing. She understands the work that designers do, and she appreciates and relates to it. Her presence will hopefully draw more attention to these powerful designers, allowing their work to finally bring credit to the minds that imagined them.
As someone who is pursuing a career in technical theatre, I often describe my role to non - theatre people as the "backstage" elements. I am starting to notice this is no longer the terminology I want to use when describing my desired career. Often times in a theatre critic or review, if there are a limited number of words or page requirements, the first people to get "cut" are the designers. Meaning that often times the work of technical theatre professionals (who there arguably would not be a show without), go unrecognized. This awards ceremony to honor costume professionals is so exciting, as it shines a light on one of the most beautiful aspects of theatre. It is so important to honor and recognize designers and technical professionals with the same degree as actors and directors because they are an integral part of putting together a piece of theatre, movie, or television show.
This is something I have actually been noticing a lot recently, and its awesome to see someone put it into words. Just in the last month I actually started following three of the four designers listed in the first paragraph on Instagram, and I will probably go follow the last one once I finish writing this comment. There is just such a sense of community that I can already feel in the world of costumes that is really exciting as an aspiring designer, and with the issues that we have been seeing in this awards season and numerous times in the past, it feels right that different disciplines would start creating their own awards that better capture the work done by their people (and provide better representation, which is easier to tackle in a smaller organization if issues do arise). The Costume Design Guild is also able to address issues like pay parity between costume design and other technical fields because costumes is a field primarily comprised of women. It is just really nice to see that there is a group in the industry that is waiting for us as future designers that will advocate for and accurately represent our skills and expectations from the industry that we are joining.
I think it is absolutely wonderful that costume designers are finally getting more exposure. Social media can be an amazing outlet when used correctly. I did not know that the costume design guild awards were created to promote costume design in general. The president of the guild Perez talks about how the costume technology has grown over the years. I am very impressed that the guild hosts seminars so that the costume designers can learn about the new technology in their field. Perez also explains that pay parity is an issue that Costume Designers Guild is trying to address. Because costume designers are mostly women they tend to be paid less than production designers who are mostly men and yet the jobs are comparable which is very frustrating. I love that the guilds awards feature more specific categories for their awards such as best period, contemporary, and sci-fi/fantasy costumes.
I think that when lay people think about awards and recognition in the entertainment industry, they probably immediately go to the Oscars or the Grammy’s or some other performance-centric type of public recognition. It often feels like (probably because it is an unfortunate reality) that, when someone needs to cut a couple of words or features of a piece of theatre, the designers are nearly always the first to go. I think it is wonderful that they Costume Designers Guild also acknowledges all of the nuances within the costume genre. At awards shows such as the Oscars, I would think that it would be difficult to look at pieces of roughly the same caliber, but that demanded extraordinarily different things and judge them on the same criteria. It is also great that they feature performers and non-costumers who have been especially strong creative collaborators to those in the costume industry.
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