Tatjana Stevenson-Oake
“To create a sustainable production Instead of having multiple costumes for multiple characters, each costume was adaptive. I designed costumes which could fully transform from character to character enabling a limited cast of six to play an entire community of creatures.”
“I aimed to create an intense visual experience for the audience using colour, texture and pattern, I wanted the audience to be drawn into the characters minds and portray the inner emotional state each had fallen into. “
Tatjana Stevenson-Oake
Freelance Costume and Wardrobe
First Class BA (Hons) Performance Costume Design
Edinburgh College of Art
Statement
“I am a costume designer from Brighton currently based in Glasgow. I have always been creative and had an avid interest in storytelling. My education at a Steiner school and the prevalence it placed on the arts was foundational in furthering my passion and developing as an artist. I didn’t experience a prescriptive linear education – we learnt freely through narrative and telling stories. I got a lot from this approach; it was integral to my engagement in my education, and in gaining a deeper appreciation of the power of storytelling. It inspired my career choice as it made me want to recreate this experience and joy for others.
What drew me to costume design in particular is the idea of being able to tell a narrative through a piece of clothing, how much one item can say about a person. Through details, the story of the garment’s life and the path the wearer has travelled. I get excited by finding innovative ways to create and develop fabrics through the exploration of colour and texture. And by constructing them in new and peculiar ways, this passion is evident in my work.
The first piece I designed for was Delicatessen, a French surrealist black comedy set in a post-apocalyptic world struck by famine. Adapted from film to immersive theatre, my interpretation is set in an inoperative meat factory. What would everyday life be like after a world-wide disaster? In this new world no one can escape the physical manifestation of their true selves. Overgrown by nature and starting to decay, eccentric residents go about their life, taking up bizarre hobbies and turning to a cannibalistic diet. From a vegetarian resistance based in the sewers with wearable self-sustainable food pods, to futuristic meat-suited factory workers, the characters become one with their environment.
I aimed to create an intense visual experience for the audience using colour, texture and pattern, I wanted the audience to be drawn into the characters minds and portray the inner emotional state each had fallen into.
My second project is Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl, a well-known and loved book by many, including myself. My basis for this project was to create an exciting and captivating performance designed to introduce children into the world of theatre. I was heavily influenced by Japanese culture and theatre portraying the foxes as Kitsune’s and incorporating origami elements into the design work. To create a sustainable production Instead of having multiple costumes for multiple characters, each costume was adaptive. I designed costumes which could fully transform from character to character enabling a limited cast of six to play an entire community of creatures. I incorporated bold black and white print work to illustrate and actualise each character, giving the production a really strong visual identity and making it easy to follow for a younger audience.”
Materials and Techniques
“Delicatessen – I had a strong notion of what I wanted to create for my futuristic workers and sewer people. I knew I wanted to create something new in order to actualise and begin to conceptualise a world outside our own. After a lot of experimentation with a plain white duchess satin as my base, I managed to create a fabric of my own which felt unique and representative of the dystopian setting of performance and in keeping with my characters’ identities. I painted on heat transfer dyes and used different staining techniques to create a highly colour-saturated and textured surface. In addition to creating a perceived practical identity for the fabric, I heat-pressed clear foil to the surface to give the impression of it being waterproof. Each character had their own colour pallet and distinctive dye effects to give the impression of meaty flesh and corrosion for the futuristic workers and sewer people respectively. The structure and silhouette of garments furthered my characters’ implantation into their world. I worked outside the realm of commercial tailoring using experimental pattern cutting techniques and panelling to cement them in their specific time period. The foliage fixed to the costumes was created through a mixture of techniques: free machine embroidery, dyeing, princess pleat, combining fake foliage, hand-stitching and beading.
Fantastic Mr fox – Based around a clean functional and graphic aesthetic, my Fantastic Mr Fox designs and costume uses a mixture of bold black and white prints hand drawn and transferred to duchess satin fabric using heat transfer printing and fabric manipulation of origami through folding and pleating. The focus of the textile and design for this project was adaptability using expandable origami structures to change the form of the body. “
Awards, Exhibitions and News
“Since graduating I have been working as a freelancer in costume and wardrobe in Scotland and England. Working on a range of productions from children’s theatre to touring contemporary dance shows from roles of costume and prop maker, to assistant designer.
Last Christmas I had the wonderful experience of working with the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. I was privileged to be part of their project ‘Humbug’. As workshop leader, I travelled around local primary schools teaching children about costume and set design.
Just before Lockdown I got the position of a full-time costume trainee on the series Outlander and am due to start at the beginning of November.
I also run my own small business called Tatty Designs selling hand made cards, prints, textiles and bags/purses. I have sold in a variety of shops in Brighton. I am currently in the process of creating an online shop for these products. My range of prints and cards our of the same style I used for my Fantastic Mr Fox fabric design.”
Lockdown
“Through out lock down I spent my time working on personal projects and furthering my skills and knowledge of my favourite crafts such as crochet, knitting and macramé. I am very excited to get back working and re enter the professional sphere.”
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