Using costume design (fabric, colour, condition, silhouette, period, accessories, hair and make-up) to communicate character, status, period and meaning to an audience (AO2 and AO3).

What this dot point is asking

Costume design is what the audience reads on the performer's body: who this character is, their status, their period, and how they change. It is one of the four Edexcel design disciplines and a common option on the written exam's high-tariff designer part. The skill is making specific, justified choices about fabric, colour, condition, silhouette, period, accessories, hair and make-up, each with an effect and a link to character and meaning.

Costume as a sign system

The audience reads costume instantly and unconsciously, so every element is a signal the designer controls.

Reading character and status

The first job of costume is to communicate who a character is and where they stand. A wealthy, powerful character can be dressed in expensive fabric, a dark formal silhouette and immaculate condition, while a poor or marginalised character can be dressed in worn, faded, ill-fitting clothes.

Period, meaning and change

Costume also fixes the period of the play, so a designer researches the dress of the era the play depicts and uses it to ground the world, which AO3 rewards when context is asked for. Costume can carry symbolic meaning too: a colour that recurs, a garment that marks an outsider, a uniform that strips individuality. The most powerful costume choice is often change: a costume that transforms across the play shows a character's journey. A character who begins immaculate and controlled and ends dishevelled and worn has had their fall written on their clothes; a character who changes from drab to bright has been liberated. Hair and make-up are part of this, ageing a character, showing illness or exhaustion, or signalling a change of status. As with every design discipline, the strongest answers are coherent, with all the choices serving one intention, each with an effect, and shaped by context in the written exam.

Try this

Q1. How can a designer show a character's high status through costume? [2 marks]

• Cue. Expensive fabric, a dark formal silhouette and immaculate condition signal wealth and power, especially in contrast with another character's worn clothing.

Q2. Why is a change of costume during a play a powerful design choice? [2 marks]

• Cue. A costume that transforms (from immaculate to dishevelled, or drab to bright) shows the character's journey on the body, which the audience reads instantly.