Posted in: Collectibles, Games, san diego comic con | Tagged: Comics, cosplay, Dressing the Characters: The Designers Behind The Costumes, entertainment, san diego comic con

"It's Not For The Faint Of Heart…" Dressing the Characters: The Designers Behind The Costumes SDCC Panel

Janel Smith writes,

My favorite panels are the ones that begin with swag, especially when the swag is useful to my daily life like a sturdy retractable measuring tape (I go through them so quickly), coupons for Joann's Fabric, and a gift certificate to a Milt & Edie's Drycleaners & Tailoring Center.

The panel opened with a video showcasing the work of each of the designers and it was chill inducing. The detail and scale of the work makes the costume teams the unsung heroes of their shows.

Costume Designer for Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Ann Foley said that the job of a costume designer is to tell stories. Which can prove to be a daunting task on a show like Outlander which created 10,000 costumes for season two. The show's designer, Terry Dressbach described the task to be like physics or math. The process becomes more about the fact that you can only do so many things in a day and less about design. In a show with roughly 5,000 extras an episode and time travel it is easy to see how costume departments are faced with a Herculean feat. As such several of the designers talked about having to make everything in house or using new technologies like 3D printing to create costume components within their short television filming schedule of 7-10 days.

As you would expect in a packed house of costume enthusiasts one of the first questions during the Q&A was about breaking into the business and the advice was simple and daunting; work your way up the ranks. Each of the panelists spoke about how they started from the bottom rung of the ladder in their industry and with hard work and perseverance worked their way up. Dressbach's advice was blunt:

"You have to give up your life for it, it's not for the faint of heart and have a thick skin."

Instead of being discouraging the room felt bolstered by her words. Dressbach also gave some practical advice to cosplayers and inspiring costume designers. She urged everyone to pay attention to what goes on under the costumes because undergarments can change the shape of a look.

Overall the panel was a unique inside look to one of the foundations of so many fantastic shows and fandoms and offered an amazing insight into what the work entails.

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