Patterns for Performance Award Finalists 2026

The Costume Society’s Patterns for Performance Award 2026 Finalists were announced in March 2026.

This year, the standard of entries was exceptional, with the largest number of applications from the widest variety of institutions around the world that the awards have ever seen. We are delighted to announce three shortlisted finalists for the Patterns for Performance 2026.

Gigi Chon Tsz Wan has created a costume for ‘the Queen of the Night’ from Mozart’s The Magic Flute as part of her work as a BA Costume Design student at Wimbledon College of Arts.

Iris Burton is a BA Costume Design and Construction student at Nottingham Trent University and she has submitted her costume for Dicken’s ‘Miss Havisham’ from Great Expectations. 

Sylvie Xu Xintong has created a costume for the title character Don Quixote in the ballet by Emanuele Luzzati. Sylvie is a third year costume for theatre and screen student at Wimbledon College of Arts.

 

Using a Janet Arnold or Norah Waugh pattern as a basis to develop a theatrical costume for a character in a performance, this year’s finalists have selected characters from opera, ballet and period drama, and all three have deployed their knowledge of dress history and considerable textiles skills to create highly original and characterful costumes for performance.  At this stage, students have created a costume design for their character and completed a toile and samples. The finalists are invited to produce the completed costume for the awards ceremony and film the costume on a performer. All three finalists demonstrate creativity and imaginative flair through their interpretation and adaptation of period patterns to meet the needs of performance costume.

The Awards will be presented as part of the society’s Annual General Meeting on Saturday 4th July. Venue to be confirmed.

The entries will be judged by multi-award winning costume designer Joanna Eatwell, known for her work on Wolf Hall, Taboo, Carnival Row, Venom, One Life and The Radleys.