Callum Miller

Callum Miller created costumes for 'The Bees', a novel by Laline Paull which explores the nature inside a hive inspired by social hierarchy and horror.
Flora 717 (above and below) is a devout young worker bee velvet embellished with wet latex drips to mimic the themes of honey, blood and horror. On the cork bodice, there is rasterized text to represent how every bee in the hive is just a number from birth.

"The main inspiration from the cork fabrics I used combined with delicate sheer fabrics was to represent the oppression of the hive in which the bees are pressured into the strict regime of Accept, Obey and Serve. Floras bodice under the cork is made from a unique fabric I made myself using organza, a unique glue called beamus and black foil  sheeting. " Callum Miller 

Sister Sage is a manipulative priestess who uses her power to overthrow the queen. Her costume has princess pleated cuffs and hem, embellished with glossy black beads. Her dramatic mustard cape with a sharply slender silhouette featured laser cut hexagons.

"'The Bees', is a novel by Laline Paull exploring the nature inside a hive inspired by social hierarchy and horror. Characters: Flora 717, a devout young worker bee and Sister Sage, a manipulative priestess who uses her power to overthrow the queen."

"'A trip to Brigadoon', is an adaptation of the classic 50s highland musical ‘Brigadoon’. The adaptation was created by setting the classic characters in the highlands where they accidentally forage the wrong kind of mushroom... a fun and immersive theatre experience that centers around magical delusion and hallucination." Callum Miller

Leanne Dewar

Leanne Dewar's degree show for Drawing and Painting at ECA was "Anthropomorphic"(2018) an installation of textiles collaged into creatures.

"My practice is centred around the creation of anthropomorphic forms through the use of second hand clothing materials. By utilising a variety of clothing types with my practice I can create personifications out with a social context and undefined by a gender or age bracket. These types of materials are easily collected, cheap to buy and can often be found lying around the streets or gifted by friends and family, using these types of materials within my work emphasises that art can come from anywhere and expensive materials don’t always guarantee the work will be more successful. My work incorporates playful experimentation with the collaboration and composition of clothing materials, using a tongue and cheek approach to create humorous figures that appear to have their own animated personhood. An important outcome within my art practice is manipulating the materials to present movement within the work, bringing the forms to life." Leanne Dewar

An-Ru Cheng II

"Rhinoceros is an absurd play reflecting disillusionment after the World Wars. Each character eventually turns into rhinoceros except the main one who is left alone. Inspired by surrealism the costumes are created from objects according to occupations of characters to represent the anxiety of modern society and mechanical life." An-Ru Cheng

This surrealist play is perfectly captured in An-Ru's costumes with their geometric framing and absurd structures, that enclose and separate the actors from each other and the audience, like caged birds.

Becky Hollis

Becky Hollis graduated in 2014 from London School of Fashion and is now studying for a MFA in costume design at Edinburgh College of Art, in these costumes, she explores sleep paralysis.

Sleep Paralysis: A Waking Nightmare, explores its title subject; the nightmarish phenomenon that is sleep paralysis. In an immersive theatre experience, a very select audience will be invited to a house, transporting them back to 1975.
Still very little is known about this worldwide sleep disorder. Sleep Paralysis: A Waking Nightmare is designed to not only frighten willing audience members but to educate them on the effects of suffering from sleep paralysis. Each experience of sleep paralysis differs immensely, and here we take a glimpse at four separate cases.
Sleep Paralysis: A Waking Nightmare plans to open the bedroom door and invite you in.
My design work explored the effects of sleep paralysis. The striped night dress is cast in resin while the wig is laced onto a wire frame. The costume is 'frozen in time', portraying a typical symptom of sleep paralysis; where sufferers feel paralysed in their bed, unable to move their body. Becky Hollis

"Many sufferers see a Shadow type figure in the walls. My 'Shadow Man' is made from custom designed wallpaper prints. Each print is pieced together, with some prints 'peeling' like old wallpaper. The 'Shadow Man', eight foot tall, appears from the corners of the room, slowly reaching out of the walls. He holds a puppet version of the sleeper, controlling her during sleep paralysis." Becky Hollis

Megan Gallacher II

Megan Gallacher used 'City of God as the theme for her graduate collection creating a pop art madonna with neon accessories.

"City of God is a Brazilian crime drama which explores the lives of the inhabitants of one of the world's most notorious slums in Rio de Janeiro, and the drug wars which went on there, throughout the 1960's-8o's. My interpretation is a piece of contemporary theatre designed to be performed at the abandoned St. Peters Seminary in Cardross, questioning why governments spend millions on religious buildings and monuments, while the surrounding communities crumble. Taking inspiration from Rio, Slovakia and Glasgow, I have used printed textiles and symbolism, referencing religious practices, monuments and icon paintings to tell this gritty, vibrant tale." Megan Gallacher

Katy Powell

This project is based around a book called 'Selling Out' by Justina Robson, it’s an old favourite of mine. It features many fantasy characters such as demons, fairies and the like, but I wanted to make it into a Science fiction. The clothes are all based around biotechnology ideas where the wearer and clothes are symbiotic. The character (above) is a demon called Madame des Loupes, she is described as birdlike in the book and is supposed to be clairvoyant. I decided to use elements of the eye to make her costume, the body suit is an iris print, the cape: veins and connective tissue while the beak and collar are inspired by blood vessels. Katey Powell 

Harriet Ogden II

Harriet Ogden's second graduate collection was created for Terry Pratchett's The Carpet People. 

Chief of the Munrungs tribe & the Dust. The book is set amongst the fibres of a carpet. Fantasy creatures such as the Munrung tribe travel across the carpet. Surreal movement and the transformation of the human body lead my research. Parodies of everyday objects from our world were inspirational when designing for these characters (dust, receipt). Harriet Ogden

These costumes came alive with dance and reminded me of some of Nick Cave's sound suits. 

This costume used drop sheeting that is a felt of fabric scraps created using waste textiles, the perfect carpet dust creature textile.

An-Ru Cheng I

"Daniel and Esther; 'The Possibility of an Island' is a nihilistic fiction, alternating between past and future. Daniel is a misanthropic comedian whose costume is inspired by 18th Century tailoring and laughter. Esther is a passionate actress who has many lovers, including Daniel. her costume is inspired by the instability and passion of love." An-Ru Cheng

In the costume of Esther An-Ru has created a woven bodice of cords that reach out like tendrils, when the wearer moves, but also very much resembles an arterial system, knotted closely over Esher's heart.
Daniel's tailored outfit is embellished with laughing faces it is a silent movie of a costume, mimed silent expressions leap out from the mask, the waistcoat and the tails of the jacket.

Liberty Bramall I

This Peter Rabbit from The Tales Of Beatrix Potter is part of Liberty Bramall's graduate collection for ECA Performance Costume.
Liberty's attention to detail and exquisite craftsmanship is a joy to behold. including the surface design of the jacket lining fabric and blouse, details like the carrot buttons, felted vegetables on the hat and the tufty fur poking through the trousers, hand embroidery and flocked carrots.

The distinctive, anthropomorphic characters from Beatrix Potter's famous Edwardian children's stories have been reimagined for a modern audience. The use of oversized millinery, padded silhouettes, and hand-drawn prints capture a sense of playfulness and humour. The designs are a nostalgic nod to the comforting childhood world that Potter created.

Harriet Ogden I

Harriet Ogden's graduate collection at the ECA performance costume show featured designs for Madam Butterfly. These designs were incredibly elegant, displaying stunning craftsmanship including incredible acoustic handmade porcelain tile beads, that sang in a clear chime as the model moved. The underdress was indigo perfection using techniques of sashiko. Harriet has obviously used this project to learn and master various skills such as Shibori and Sashiko and has gone on a fantastic journey of development culminating in some exquisite work.

"Cultural inaccuracies and stereotypes are commonly associated with portrayals of Puccini's opera and this fuelled my exploration into Japanese culture. Allowing me to interpret the story by adding realism while simultaneously infusing modernity. Research into Japanese 'folk' clothing and it's production methods has instilled my final costume with authenticity." Harriet Ogden