Post job

Explore jobs

Find specific jobs

Explore careers

Explore professions

Best companies

Explore companies

OverviewJobsSalaryResume

Skills

What They DoEducationDemographicsBest CompaniesBest StatesBest CitiesJob OutlookCompare
zippia ai icon

Automatically apply for jobs with Zippi

Upload your resume to get started.

Costume designer skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
2 min read
Quoted expert
Shelbi Wilkin
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical costume designer skills. We ranked the top skills for costume designers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 27.2% of costume designer resumes contained costumes as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a costume designer needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 costume designer skills for your resume and career

1. Costumes

Here's how costume designers use costumes:
  • Managed all daily costume distributions and collection, laundering and maintenance/repair of costumes.
  • Conceptualized with choreographers and designed custom-made costumes for a competitive dance studio/production studio.

2. Make-Up

Make-up is the way something is put together or arranged to create a story that is not true.


In fashion, makeup is a colored substance, a decorative cosmetic that people use on the face to enhance their appearance and express everything about a person's personality, including their mood.

Here's how costume designers use make-up:
  • Designed advanced make-up designs, oversaw large crews and orchestrated quick changes for make-up.
  • Collaborated with photographers on hair and make-up stylists for desired look.

3. Costume Shop

Here's how costume designers use costume shop:
  • Maintained Costume Shop; cleaned up excess materials and tidied-up work space, organized and stored costumes from previous theatrical productions.
  • Worked in conjunction with the costume shop manager and the costume designer to bring visions to life on stage.

4. Design Concepts

Here's how costume designers use design concepts:
  • Ensured design concepts provided by the director and producer were achieved.
  • Provided fashion design concepts, helped implement necessary adjustments for clients.

5. Character Development

Here's how costume designers use character development:
  • Assisted in character development including hair, makeup and accessories.
  • Suggest changes in character development and age.

6. Wardrobe

Here's how costume designers use wardrobe:
  • Contributed in production and on set as an assistant dressing the actors, maintaining the costumes, and setting up/organizing wardrobe.
  • Organized the wardrobe backstage and on set maintaining strict guidelines in order to keep continuity for shoots and performances.

Choose from 10+ customizable costume designer resume templates

Build a professional costume designer resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your costume designer resume.

7. Artistic Vision

Here's how costume designers use artistic vision:
  • Guide entire development process; initial conception through finished production, while maintaining the director s artistic vision.
  • Collaborate with Design and Technical Teams to ensure a cohesive artistic vision.

8. Sketch

Here's how costume designers use sketch:
  • Sketch fashion illustrations for visual coordinates and advertising purposes.
  • Selected all fabrics and trims, developed styles from first sketch through production, managed sample room, and extensive fittings.

9. Theatre Production

Here's how costume designers use theatre production:
  • Assisted director in designing and creating clothes for summer theatre production.
  • Designed and constructed costumes for various theatre productions.

10. NYC

NYC stands for New York City.

Here's how costume designers use nyc:
  • Sourced cut and sew knits in NYC garment district.
  • Film "Now is Forever" By Susana, NYC

11. Costume Pieces

Here's how costume designers use costume pieces:
  • Designed and directed construction/constructed certain costume pieces.
  • Manage the costume budget of each production, scheduling fittings for each actor, and securing costume pieces for specific productions.

12. Mood Boards

Here's how costume designers use mood boards:
  • Created sketches & mood boards for each character to set scene for director.
  • Created trend/mood boards for concept presentations and client sales presentations.

13. Music Videos

Music videos are short films or videos that feature a song and imagery and are produced either for artistic or promotional purposes.

Here's how costume designers use music videos:
  • Organized and styled all looks for the making of Dada Life's, 'One Last Night On Earth' music video.
  • Costume creation and alterations for commercials and music video, working with a stylist on and off set.

14. Photo Shoots

A photoshoot is a series of photographs that a photographer takes of someone, usually of a model or a famous person, to be used in a newspaper or a magazine. The goal of a photoshoot is to achieve a predetermined visual objective. Later, these images can be used for editing or post-production..

Here's how costume designers use photo shoots:
  • Direct photo shoot and video shoot to ensure model casting, hair, makeup, and styling brings design to life.
  • Manage models, coordinate photo shoots and work with graphic designers to lay out final images for catalogs.

15. Stitching

Here's how costume designers use stitching:
  • Assisted Lead Costume Designer in all areas; from visual concepts to pattern-making; cutting and stitching; fittings and rehearsals.
  • Work with the stitching staff to ensure design protocols are being followed.
top-skills

What skills help Costume Designers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What costume designer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Shelbi WilkinShelbi Wilkin LinkedIn profile

Adjunct Assistant Professor Costume Design, Beloit College

Theatre is a highly collaborative artistic space. It allows artists the freedom to create and present their art while receiving a steady paycheck. This collaborative environment produces strong community ties to other theatre artists. As a designer, I get to wear many hats, I enjoy the diverse research and analysis that goes into every design for a production. I then get to use that research to create dynamic costume designs for the stage.
Do you want to know more?
Read more about what experts have to say about costume designer

List of costume designer skills to add to your resume

Costume designer skills

The most important skills for a costume designer resume and required skills for a costume designer to have include:

  • Costumes
  • Make-Up
  • Costume Shop
  • Design Concepts
  • Character Development
  • Wardrobe
  • Artistic Vision
  • Sketch
  • Theatre Production
  • NYC
  • Costume Pieces
  • Mood Boards
  • Music Videos
  • Photo Shoots
  • Stitching
  • Drama
  • Wigs
  • DIR
  • Patternmaking
  • Costume Fittings
  • Feature Film
  • Film Production
  • Production Design
  • Shakespeare
  • Stage Production
  • Theater Productions

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse arts, entertainment, sports, and media jobs