Directors, Here Are Five Questions Your Costume Designer Will (and Should) Ask You
Clark University
by Chris Peterson
When you step into the director’s chair, you quickly learn that your costume designer isn’t simply someone who “picks out clothes.” They’re a storyteller, a visual historian, and a partner in shaping how your audience understands the world you’ve imagined. And like any good collaborator, they’re going to have questions, lots of them. The more thought you’ve given to those answers, the more cohesive, efficient, and inspired your production process will be.
Here are the big ones you should expect, and be ready to answer with both clarity and creativity:
1. What’s your overall vision for the world of the play?
Costume designers aren’t mind readers (though sometimes it seems they might be). They need a clear sense of whether your Hamlet is living in medieval Denmark, a 1930s speakeasy, or a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The tone, time period, and emotional temperature you’re imagining will influence everything from hemlines to hat shapes. This isn’t just about “when” the play happens, but also the “feel” of the world—gritty, glamorous, heightened, stripped down? Your answer here will set the compass for every choice the designer makes, and without it, they’re working in the dark.
2. Are there functional needs I should account for?
Beautiful costumes that can’t function are like shoes that hurt too much to walk in—they look great until the actor has to move. Will someone be climbing a ladder, executing fight choreography, or sprinting across stage in the dark? Is there a lightning-fast quick change happening just offstage? Your designer needs to know the demands on each garment so they can balance mobility, safety, and style. Sometimes that means choosing stretch over silk or designing a breakaway seam that looks invisible under lights but works like magic in a quick change.
3. How realistic or symbolic do you want to get?
There’s a wide spectrum between meticulous historical accuracy and abstract suggestion. Are we in an exact 1890s Paris with authentic corsets, or are we just hinting at the period through a modern lens? Do we want the audience to feel anchored in a real time and place, or are we leaning into heightened theatricality where colors, fabrics, and shapes act more as emotional markers than literal ones? Your answer here will guide how much research your designer dives into, and whether they’re building toward authenticity, expressionism, or something in between.
4. What’s the budget and build/buy balance?
Costume dreams need costume math. Your designer will want to know not just how much money there is, but how you envision spending it. Are certain principal characters getting custom builds while the ensemble is pulled from stock? Are specialty pieces being rented, bought off-the-rack, or fabricated from scratch? Budget decisions also affect the timeline—building requires more lead time than buying, and shipping can eat up days or weeks. This is where your vision meets the practical realities of time and money, and clear expectations can save everyone from headaches.
8. What’s your timeline for fittings and approvals?
Costumes don’t just appear the night before opening. They go through sketches, fabric pulls, fittings, adjustments, and final approvals. Your designer will need to know the production calendar inside and out so they can schedule fittings without conflicting with rehearsals, tech, or other design deadlines. This is also where you establish how hands-on you want to be in approving choices—do you want to see every design sketch before a build begins, or do you trust your designer to surprise you? Clear timelines and boundaries make for fewer late-night panics.
A good costume designer isn’t just there to “serve” the production—they help define it. Every question they ask you is a chance to sharpen your own vision, solve problems before they happen, and elevate the entire experience for the audience. The ones listed here are only a starting point, your designer may have a dozen more, depending on the script, cast, or creative approach. That’s why communication isn’t just helpful, it’s essential.
The more you share openly, the more your designer can anticipate challenges, surprise you with inventive solutions, and make sure every button, seam, and silhouette is in service to the story you’re telling.