HowlRound Theatre Commons: Bringing together three designers—let alone three designers of the same discipline, costume design—for a conversation outside of the context of a specific production is not your typical interview. New York–based Lux Haac, bicoastal Dominique Fawn Hill, and Washington, DC–based Deb Sivigny collectively hold over thirty-eight years of professional experience and many stories from the field. They were introduced to each other by series curators Porsche McGovern and Kate Freer, who thought that a dialogue between costume designers would illuminate the interpersonal side of design and the current struggles within their profession.
2 comments:
I thought this article was very interesting and inspiring. Its very nice to hear from a group of young designers speak on how they define their careers and navigation design through the pandemic as well as the movement for social justice. I thought they had a very interesting conversation about putting yourself in the work. While sometimes we may feel like a designer is there to facilitate a process and it doesn't really matter who you are as long as you execute the design well. But really standing back and looking at the bigger picture we must understand that you as a designer are going to have your own imprint on the show in a way that no one else could have done. It is important to recongize what you bring to the table. I really liked Dominique Fawn’s quote,” We deserve more than what’s been offered to us.” I thought that this was very powerful in practicing self love- Evan Riley
This was such a beautiful and real conversation between people that I’m glad was captured. It was interesting how they all connected by acknowledging and discussing the disconnect in their field. People are competing for jobs and there is only usually only one job as costume designer per show. While costume designers are constantly collaborating with the director and people in other departments, they are cut off from people who could understand them the most. This conversation has shown that they all have so much in common, especially during the pandemic. One of the things almost all of them brought up was the idea of time and how that’s adjusted with everything being online. Designers have gotten more mindful with little things like how long they spend on meetings but also big ideas like what projects do I actually want to spend my time on? Which I think is such an important question to ask yourself as a creative.
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