Ms Jan Hamon
Jan is a Principal Lecturer in Costume Design and Costume History and is currently
enrolled in doctoral study with RMIT University. Jan is investigating the contribution
that dressmaking has made to the growth of the fashion industry. Her Master
of Arts thesis involved investigation into the role of the costume designer
in the New Zealand film and television industries, and was completed with De
Montfort University, United Kingdom, in 1995.
Ivory Towers or Merchant Ivory?
Traditionally, the study of costume design has been offered within a Performing Arts School, frequently as part of a Diploma programme. My interest (and dilemma) has been developing a fit for the process of teaching costume design and construction within the structure of a fashion degree in an Art and Design School. This paper then, seeks to examine the process of integrating the costume design discipline into a fashion degree structure, while maintaining the integrity of the discipline and promoting the unique elements of the practice. It will acknowledge the problems (and offer solutions) inherent in working in isolation from a performing arts environment. It will also examine strategies for protecting the relevance and viability of costume design within the fashion design education context. It will discuss the responsibility of the approach to encompass the diverse design opportunities in the field: in film, television, theatre, and dance, for example. My perception is that supporters and stakeholders in the costume design field have to be identified as unique from those in fashion design, in order to tailor a selection of practice opportunities to enhance student experience. Flexibility is crucial to the delivery of the programme to take advantage of these opportunities, given that performance and production are intermittent events. Finally, the paper will argue that costume design education presents a particularly rich environment for the identification and pursuit of research opportunities, and that costume design practice cannot exist without the development of strong research skills.
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