fashionunited.uk: In its first in-person event since the start of the pandemic, the Costume Designers Guild celebrated its 24th annual awards show and revealed the 2022 winners.
Hosted by actors Andrew Rannells and Casey Wilson, the event recognised excellence in film, TV and short-form costume design, while also calling on the industry to fight for pay equity for costume designers.
3 comments:
While I haven’t experienced the designer pay gap, I have experienced a significant lack of compensation for the skills that are required of stitchers and costume interns; we’re expected to have a high level of education & skill and know a wide range of techniques but are paid the same or less than positions that require much less prior experience. Costume shop managers are also often under-appreciated and underpaid, and I agree with the article that it stems in large part from the idea that because it’s mostly women doing these jobs, we’re seen as cheap labor and less valuable than departments staffed mostly by men. I’m not surprised that Jacqueline West and Bob Morgan won for Dune, the costumes were expertly designed and are a new fantasy icon in my eyes. I do wish the article had named more of the designers, finding the list of winners was kind of difficult.
The issue with unequal pay has been going on for so long it’s becoming frustrating. Alongside unequal pay, there is also the issue of the unreasonable work schedule, where crews are expected to work for ridiculously long hours and limited rest, let alone vacations. As Davis pointed out, “there is no understudy”, and you are expected to just push through it because quite frankly, there are people who are willing to replace you any minute. It also surprises me that unequal pay still exists even when the costume is predominantly female, who receives fewer wages than fields that are predominantly male. It inherently means that the industry doesn’t see women as capable and worth as men, which very offensive and bias. Also, I think there isn’t enough acknowledgement for crews, so it is very nice of Andrew Garfield to acknowledge the effort and hard work of the costume team because I think this little show of gratitude is still valuable.
Costume designers are historically underpaid and underappreciated when in my opinion costumes are the second most important part of a film or production aside from the plot and acting. Costumes help build a character and atmosphere all while transporting the audience to a world. We all wear clothes, and they reflect a lot more about ourselves than we might think, costumes are vital to film and theater, and it always baffled me how much costume designers are used and abused within the industry. One thing that truly stuck out to me was that 85% percent of costume designers are women, while 85% percent of production designers are men. Throughout my career as a costume designer, I’ve experienced odd comments like “You don’t look like a costume person…” or “Oh you do costumes? So your gay?” and “Ehh you look more like a scenic guy” this stereotype that all costume designers are either women or gay men is absolutely horrendous, and as a straight man I find a lot of people feel comfortable with saying gross comments like this to me. This backward industry standard is blatantly sexist and homophobic harms, not just to the costume designers but also to the whole industry. It is time that people stop with the stereotypes and accept people for who they are and the skill they bring to a production.
Post a Comment