Book Review: The Costume Supervisor's Toolkit

 

The Costume Supervisor's Toolkit by Rebecca Pride fills a broad gap in the recorded knowledge in the field of theatre costuming. 

Much has been written about costume design, and there is a wealth of knowledge in textbooks and online sources about patternmaking, clothing construction and various costume crafts. And because every industry requires management staff, it's not difficult to find plenty of information about general personnel and project management. But this book is a must-have reference manual for costume studio libraries and a handy guidebook for any costumier who aspires to a supervisory role. 

Pride has written it drawing not only upon her own extensive experience but also a series of interviews conducted with several other experienced professionals in the field and related areas (such as wardrobe supervision). 

The book is not written for a complete novice--Pride presumes that the reader has a basic understanding of the costume design process and clothing construction procedures (meaning, that custom clothing starts as flat fabric that is sewn into garments, etc). This isn't a manual for how to do any of that stuff, but rather how to supervise the workflow of a team of specialists who do in order to turn a set of designs into a collection of costumes to be worn in performance.

Chapters are devoted to various aspects of the job--hiring a team, budgeting, support for rehearsals, etc. The technical rehearsal process and the costume team's responsibilities in that period is covered in-depth as well, which--as a professional in the field--is wonderful to read a detailed record on. I'm thrilled to find a section covering understudy fittings, something formerly frequently neglected but in the age of COVID, a requisite aspect of the process which must be prioritized.

It's worth noting that Pride and the professionals she consulted are all working in the British theatre. She addresses the differences and similarities between the UK professional theatre/performing arts industry and that of the US and other nations. The scope of this book is not global, but it is an excellent resource for those working in professional theatre in Europe/North America, and perhaps other areas as well, depending on the similarities/differences in the way costumes are produced at the professional level.

The book includes several helpful appendices--a glossary, a list of sources in the UK/US/Europe for costume studio supplies/rentals, and more.

In conclusion, I highly recommend this book for professional costume studios' reference libraries, educators, new-career costumers considering a focus in supervision, and also those who've been in the field for some time. It will be helpful to literally anyone already in the field or interested in learning more about it.

Disclosure: this book is published by Routledge; I am a fellow Routledge author (A History of the Theatre Costume Business). I did receive a review copy of this book but my thoughts on it in this reviw are impartial and unsolicited.