Working with a director is infinitely more varied and in many ways more difficult than working with actors. All actors are interested in what they will be wearing and almost all will talk about their characters for as long as anyone can stand it. Directors come in many more varieties. Some good directors will be interested in the costumes to a very detailed degree and yet will want your creativity and technical knowledge. The best directors I have worked with had very strong ideas but gave everyone who worked with them the feeling that their contribution was important and so everyone did their very best. Really good directors are engaged with all aspects of the show and willing to talk about it. A director once told me that when he was starting out he never paid attention to the costumes until he finally realized how much power they had.
This is what Laurie Metcalf had to say about working with a director: “I like being trusted that I’ll be able to figure out the technical stuff,” she said. “It sounds boring, but in the opening few minutes of our play there are a lot of decisions that had to be worked out. Where does the hat go? When do the gloves come off? How do I get rid of them? When you’ve worked this stuff out, it looks natural, but these little details can be maddening. So I like to be trusted that I can figure this stuff out on my own. And then I like to feel confident that a director has my back and can tell me when that’s too big or too emotional or just too much. Because generally I start at 100 miles an hour, so I like being told to rein things in. I like being told that’s funny but the wrong time to have a laugh. I like knowing that someone is out there looking at the big picture.” NYTimes 2017
Me too! She expresses what I want from a director as a costume designer. I want someone who is looking out for the big picture and who will tell all of us what we need to do to accomplish it. I want to be trusted to do my job within that framework.
Some directors have been schooled to think of themselves as an auteur; that all the design elements and everything else is part of their creative vision. They really don’t have time to design the costumes but they will tell you exactly what the costumes should look like anyway. That is very old school and paternalistic in my opinion. The more modern viewpoint is of theatre as collaboration. If you run into one of these old fossils it is really up to you how to deal with the problem. Some can be finessed or charmed but some are obsessed with a need for power. Then you are stuck between doing exactly what they say like an automaton, or striking a blow for costume designers everywhere and designing what you want with the ensuing brew-ha-ha. I would guess that your best compromise would be to see what is best for the actors and do that. Be aware however that those old fossils are vindictive; they know deep down that their days are numbered and they will strike back if possible.
Another type of director rates costume design of low importance. Fools! That director will look only briefly at sketches or research materials or renderings and very likely involve himself deeply in the workings of the scenery. The type of director I am describing is the macho type and thinks that it might lead people to think he is a pansy if he is too interested in clothing. You must get him to look at your designs; if you don’t there could be very big misunderstandings down the road. Sometimes though there is a benign neglect and total absence of interest in costumes. One of the most puzzling experiences for a costume designer is to go through first dress and have absolutely no notes from the director. “Oh it’s fine.” Is all that you will get if you ask how it was? Oh well, decide for yourself what is working and what isn’t and count your blessings that he hasn’t suddenly woken up and demanded all new costumes. If you feel like the production meetings are going on with an absence of information about costumes check with the stage manager, go to rehearsals and see what you can find out from the actors.
I read of a study that analyzed what people look at when they are seeing a play. They start out looking all around at the theatre, at the scenery, back to the actors, back to the big picture again. But as the play progresses they gradually focus on the actors faces and ultimately they look at the actors eyes, trying to see the truth in them. They can only really do that if there is no anachronism or jarring detail to jerk them out of their concentration. It is strange to work at something that you want to disappear but console yourself with the thought that only if the play is really working can that happen ,and then you can be proud of being part of something really good. If the play succeeds then so does everyone who worked on it.
As Diana Vreeland once said “Give them what they never knew they wanted”.
Costumier 