<p dir="ltr">Michele brought along samples of her embroidery work for various costumes she has worked on, so that students could take a closer look, recounting her career path to date and revealing the steps that took her from early studies in fashion design to working with costume designer Michele Clapton on ‘Game of Thrones’, where she was given the opportunity to experiment and develop textural embroidery for some of the costumes created for the character of Daenerys Targaryen and many others, requiring differing approaches or techniques as befitted each individual and their script narrative.</p> <p dir="ltr">Michele spoke at length about her experiences and answered questions, giving every student the opportunity to interact with her embroidery and pick up industry tips for designing to tight deadlines for film and television.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/people/marie-dunaway">Marie Dunaway</a>, Course Leader for BA (Hons) Costume Production, said: “It’s crucial for us to bring industry professionals onto campus, to open our world and broaden our students' knowledge of what is achievable in our industry. Work like Michele’s demonstrates that there is no limit to what you can achieve in costume production and design.”</p> <p dir="ltr">We sat down with Michele after her visit to find out more, including how textile conservation techniques acted as a bridge between art school and industry, her favourite costumes from ‘Game of Thrones’, and the advice she’d give to anybody wanting to create costumes professionally.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Can you describe your journey from graduation to working on some of the world’s most viewed television shows?</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">My journey into the film and television industry was a meandering one. As a child my mum would make clothes for myself and my sister, and my granny was often knitting, crocheting or doing embroidery. I loved to help with her embroidery and do recall really enjoying creating French knots for the first time, so early on I was seeking to add texture to what I was working on. Like many young girls I was always making outfits for my dolls, at school I liked to help backstage with the sets and costumes for their productions. Then as a teenager I went to the London College of Fashion and studied fashion design, but once there my head was quickly turned by the shows of the theatre costume and make-up courses. They were a much more exciting spectacle for me to behold than what we were doing in the fashion design option. </p> <p dir="ltr">Developing my interest in costume and historical clothing, after college I had the opportunity to work in textile conservation, and this is where I really honed my hand embroidery skills. As well as being able to practise my embroidery, I drew much inspiration from all of the textiles that passed through my hands. It enabled me to learn the different styles and hand writing of different embroiderers, understanding which techniques were quicker to work, how to source the right threads for each project, building up skill and precision in the needlework, which would be invaluable to my future work in film and TV.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr"><strong>How did textile conservation lead you to work in films?</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Around the time that I was learning historical textile conservation and practising my embroidery skills, I had some friends who made short films and I got involved with them, working on the costumes. Through a friend creating these short films, I was made aware of a low budget film on location in my area, so I just went along one day to the set and offered to help within the costume department. Again, there is always an element of luck involved and I was most fortunate to meet on this production the late costume designer Mike O’Neill. Mike had worked on a lot of television period dramas and as I got on well with him and his assistant, we continued working together after this job, where he became something of a mentor to me.</p> <p dir="ltr">At first I worked as was a general costume assistant, learning about reading the script, looking at each character and their costume plots, sourcing/buying costumes, attending fittings at the costume hire houses, preparing the trucks for filming, working on set, looking after the actors, continuity of costume, maintaining the costumes, alterations and being given the chance to do small embroidery pieces or embellishments on some costumes.</p> <p dir="ltr">My first role working solely as an embroiderer was on the HBO ‘Elizabeth I’ series starring Dame Helen Mirren in 2005. We were a small costume crew, and I was involved early on with sourcing and dying of fabrics for the costumes that Helen’s character would be wearing. I then worked with Mike to create the embellishments and embroidery for these costumes. Following on from this I continued to work on various productions, gravitating towards the embroidery and embellishment side of costume and on one such job I was introduced to costume designer Michele Clapton.</p>

<p dir="ltr"><strong>How did you begin working on ‘Game of Thrones’?</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">I worked on a few different productions with the costume designer Michele Clapton, prior to ‘Game of Thrones’, creating some embroidery for her designs, such as a scarf on ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’, and decorating fans, reticules and ball gowns on the 2008 ITV drama series ‘Sense and Sensibility’. When she was offered the pilot show for ‘Game of Thrones’ she knew my skill set and already had in mind many ideas for me to work on for various characters on the show.</p> <p dir="ltr">So I guess I was in the right place at the right time, as we’d already been working together, she had an idea of what I could do and how to utilise my skills so things continued to evolve from there. Any time you get to work on a long running television series you’re in a very fortunate position. There might be big budgets in film, but once filming is complete, that project is over. </p> <p dir="ltr">For a long running television series, there are opportunities to return each season and sometimes you’ll get to revisit old designs and have another chance to develop it. Your designs can evolve over time and you’ll learn more with every season, utilising different techniques and materials to suit each character that you are asked to work on.<br /></p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>What is the most important thing for a costume designer working in film and TV?</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Working in costume for the film and television industries your main job is to aid the actor, to enable them to go to set ready to give their performance. You need to have thoroughly done your research for each character and have a strong vision in mind for the interpretation of each, but be open to ideas along the way as there will be many voices involved, from producers, directors and of course the actors themselves, each with potentially slightly differing views. You need to be adaptable and try to weave all the strands together for the best outcome.</p> <p dir="ltr">There will be a lot of juggling of ideas, you have to be open to other people’s interpretations, and be prepared for anything, including starting from scratch if an idea isn’t working for the actor or the actor has been changed at the last minute. Schedules also invariably change, so something you thought was months down the line will suddenly crop up much sooner. Try to be prepared and have everything in process. Things don’t always go to plan, so you have to remain positive, calm and level headed whatever is thrown at you.</p> <p dir="ltr">If you are starting out, surround yourself with people you know and trust to bring your vision to life. Seeking a crew to support you who are experienced in their field of work is essential to help everything run smoothly and you will learn a lot from them.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr"><strong>What advice would you give to current Costume Production students?</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">When you graduate from university, I’d advise you to take advantage of every chance presented to you, however small. I didn’t study to work in embroidery; my journey here has been a gradual process. I was always interested in embroidery and my work in textile conservation helped me along the way, but it was really meeting people and the opportunities that those meetings led to that got me here. So there is obviously always an element of luck as to who you meet and what projects they are involved in, but you have to start somewhere and wherever that may be it is essential that you present a positive impression and promote what you have to offer/bring to the table.</p> <p dir="ltr">It is imperative to embrace every opportunity that comes your way as often one door leads to another, and you never quite know where it may ultimately lead or who you might meet in regards to future opportunities. Early on after leaving college, many of my friends originally worked in the theatre as dressers and they quickly formed networks of colleagues, a sort of pool of friends to draw from when on a production that possibly needed extra hands on board for large crowd scenes. Often what tends to happen is that the same team of people work together from job to job, as they want a team that they know they can rely on to get the costumes done on time and to the highest of standards. So getting that foot in the door can be daunting but is vital and whatever job you are asked to do, however small, just be helpful, conscientious and aspire to the highest level of attention to detail.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>What’s the best way to make a good impression on people you might work with in future?</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">It doesn’t matter what sort of work you’re looking for, whether you want to move into theatre, film or TV, the best way to get there is if people who’ve worked with you before remember you as being helpful, productive and cheerful, as well as always being punctual, arriving on time and being prepared to stay late if necessary</p> <p dir="ltr">The filming days are long and a shoot may go on for many months, so it is important that the team support one another, you aren’t in competition, you are working together to help create the designer’s vision. This is a collaborative process. It is a never ending learning curve, gaining experience on each project to aid the next, no one knows it all, and we are all always learning. <br /></p>

<p dir="ltr"><strong>Is it important to know exactly what role you’re working towards in the film industry?</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">I don’t think so. You may think you know what you want to do, but don’t discount any alternative options that are presented to you as you may find that your personal skill set is best used elsewhere to that which you originally imagined. It’s helpful to have an all-round idea of working within the filming process, what each department brings to the project. So getting experience onset, understanding the set ups, rehearsals, seeing how the costumes will be used in action and how the designs translate from concept to physical finished piece on screen is very important. Until you try things out, you won’t 100% know what your skill set is or how to apply it in a professional setting.</p> <p dir="ltr">You might start out imagining you want to be the costume designer but find when working in the field that you’re best at managing ‘A’ list celebrities, or have an aptitude for supervising rather than designing. Even if embellishment or embroidery is something you love doing and that is ideally your chosen area of work, these can be such a small part of the filming process, that you might be better expanding your skill set so that you have the option to work as a pattern cutter or costume maker, or possibly work in breakdown or the dye room, areas where there’ll be more opportunities</p> <p dir="ltr">Get your foot in the door and be adaptable and you never know where it will lead. Even if you discover that you don’t enjoy some of the work you take on, that isn’t time wasted, because it will help to lead you to the things you love or are more suited to.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>What have been some of your favourite costumes to work on?</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">That is always so difficult to answer as each costume that you work on poses a challenge and whether it is something darned or a textural piece, a frogging detail or something more akin to what someone expects as embroidery, your aim is to integrate the design into the costume, helping to reveal each character in their on screen portrayal within the context of the production and its stylisations or nuisances.</p> <p dir="ltr">One of my favourites was an 18th century waistcoat for a pilot that never got picked up called ‘Virtuoso’. The designer was Caroline McCall but I doubt anyone would have seen this one. For this waistcoat design I was given some vintage Peking knot work motifs as a starting point that I used and added more of my own embroidery to in order to complete the final design. </p> <p dir="ltr">From the costumes that people are more likely to have seen on screen, on ‘Game of Thrones’ the character Daenerys had some great textural pieces integrated into her costumes that were a lot of fun to work on and develop along with her personal script narrative. The Queen Regent Cersei Baratheon, who was born into the Lannister family, had some fantastic pieces for me to work on, from her early more feminine pieces with bird motifs, to her Lannister centric ones with lion motifs, to her later more masculine armoured designs such as her embroidered georgette and pauldrons. We created these embroidered versions inspired by classical armour pieces and this was one of the few pieces that I was really happy with the end result. Often, you’re working to such tight deadlines for television that you are never happy with the final piece and see it as your first draft, knowing how you could improve it were you to be afforded the opportunity to start again.</p> <p dir="ltr">The costumes I worked on for several female characters residing in the land of Dorne were fantastic to work on, a riot of colours where I was able to incorporate some bead weaving and ribbon work into the embroidery. You’re always trying to capture that elusive perfection in your work and for television you never have as long as you think you will to work on any one costume, but although time was tight to create theseI was happy with the wildflower designs for the ladies of Dorne.</p> <p dir="ltr">This reminds me of another tip for anybody aspiring to be part of the team creating costumes in the workroom. It’s good to keep in mind that you might not be present when the costume is fitted depending on your role in the department and how the designer likes to manage their fittings with the actors. You have to understand that the costumes do look very different on a stand in the workroom compared to when they are on the actor and again on screen in action. So any time you get the chance to go into the fitting room, or see photos of it or go on set definitely do as by seeing an actor wearing the costume you’ve worked on, you’ll learn so much – how the cut and colour palette as well as positioning of embroidery and intensity of design etc helps with future adjustments. Otherwise, you don’t get to see the end result until it appears on screen, and you might wish you’d done something differently or had time to alter your designs once you have been able to assess it.</p> <p dir="ltr">‘The Nevers’, a science fiction drama set in late Victorian London, was another great project to work on with the designer Michele Clapton. I worked on a variety of costumes for the character Lavinia Bigelow, there was a devore print velvet ball gown, on which I embellished the print with stitch, bead and feather. Another printed design for her that I enhanced was a lavender and black design of abstract birds for which I embroidered, appliquéd and beaded on a tulle overlay and added Russia braid work to a cutwork caplet she wore over this bodice. She also had a fabulous military style bodice with frogging and Russia braid details. </p> <p dir="ltr">Another character called Bonfire had a coat with Russia braid detail, but this time less formal and more textural in nature. There was one male character I worked on, Hugo Swann and for his character I embroidered a waistcoat adorned with glossy starlings amongst a backdrop of passion fruits and flowers, all embroidered in fine silk floss threads.</p> <p dir="ltr">The 2020 film adaptation of ,The Secret Garden, was another wonderful project with Michele Clapton. I created embroidery for many of Mary’s costumes, from a simple smock, to embroidering into the print on her butterfly and meadow dresses, as well as creating a more textural embroidery for her moss coat. I particularly enjoyed working on the character Dickon’s costumes, a darned and embroidered jacket that had two versions one in tonal shades of the brown of the jacket and a second that had colour shaded into the design to represent the growing bonds between the children as their friendship grows and flourishes echoed in the garden itself.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Students and lecturers from across Arts University Plymouth were given opportunities to come and hear about Michele’s work, but none were as excited by the experience as our BA (Hons) Costume Production students.</p> <p dir="ltr">After the guest lecture, 21-year-old first year BA (Hons) Costume Production student Serena Cavanagh, from Bridgwater, Somerset, said: “I’m a big fan of ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘House of the Dragon’. A couple of years ago in college I did a project on Michele Carragher and when I heard that she visits Arts University Plymouth as a guest lecturer, that was one of the reasons that helped me decide to study here. I’ve been very excited about meeting Michele and I wasn’t disappointed. I’m sure that the work I’ve seen today will influence what I go on to create, I’ve been given a lot to think about and go away and research.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Before joining Arts University Plymouth I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and I started by studying engineering, but then I changed my mind and came here to focus on costume. BA (Hons) Costume Production at Arts University Plymouth is so good, I love coming in and hearing people talk about their work and experiences. I watch a lot of sci-fi and fantasy and I’d love to work in this area.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Another enthusiastic student was 20-year-old second-year Lillie Steele, from Tacoma, Washington USA, who said: “It was really exciting to see Michele Carragher work in person, to see the textures up close and think about how I can learn from those ideas and use them in my own work. Michele explained the reasons that certain animals or colour motifs recur across different character costumes that she created and I love seeing that fine detail. There’s more thought and detail than you really need for the screen, but I love the storytelling aspect of costume design and found this aspect to be really cool.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I feel really inspired by the work I’ve seen today. There are a lot of materials and techniques being used that would be hard for me to find without hearing how they were used by a professional like Michele. Hearing about the way she uses appliqué embroidery techniques to create these fine details out of sequence from the larger costumes was something that I anticipate going on to use in my own practice.”</p> <p dir="ltr">From script analysis to character realisation, BA (Hons) Costume Production students at Arts University Plymouth learn to develop their practical and design skills for costume in performance. The unique strength of this course lies in its combination of technical focus with opportunities to experience the performance industry first-hand.</p> <p dir="ltr">Both academically robust and creatively stimulating, the hugely diverse range of processes and media that we have on offer makes Arts University Plymouth an exciting place to study costume. Interdisciplinary collaboration is actively encouraged, particularly amongst peers in film and other media productions, and our students gain unrivalled access to a range of digital processes, textile printing and 3D-making.</p> <p dir="ltr">Email <a href="mailto:costume@aup.ac.uk">costume@aup.ac.uk</a> and check out our dedicated course <a href="https://www.instagram.com/aup_costume/">Instagram page</a> to find out more.</p>