Patterns for Performance Award Winners 2025

On Saturday 5th July, the Costume Society announced the Patterns of Fashion and Patterns for Performance 2025 award winners at the Society’s Annual General Meeting held at Origin Workspace in Bristol.

The Patterns for Performance award enables students to design and make a theatrical costume for a character in a performance using one of Arnold’s or Waugh’s original patterns as a starting point. The awards are an important part of the Costume Society’s output that promotes the high standard of craft and artistry within costume.

Three finalists were selected for this Award and the students exhibited their costumes and research at Origin Workspace for judges and Society members to view. The entries for Patterns for Performance were judged by prolific costume and set designer, Tom Pye who has a wealth of experience in Costume for theatre and screen, including Gentleman Jack (2019) and Renegade Nell (2024).

Patterns for Performance 2025 Winner: Philip Winter

Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky from The Government Inspector by Gogol

Philip Winter is currently studying Costume for Theatre and Screen at Wimbledon College of Arts. Philip has chosen to specialise in historical accuracy and tailoring for his costume practice and he entered the competition with a design for the uniform of Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky from Gogol’s play The Government Inspector. Combining several patterns from Norah Waugh’s The Cut of Men’s Clothes 1600-1900, Philip has combined character periodicity and craftsmanship.

"Winning the Patterns for Performance Award was such an exciting moment – the whole experience was incredibly inspiring and motivating. I honestly didn’t think I would even be a finalist, let alone win first place, so it was such an honour to be recognised among so many other talented costume makers and designers. The competition pushed me to explore a completely new route in costume design. Before this, I’d never really thought about where garment patterns came from, but analyzing historical uniforms at the Deutsches Historisches Museum opened up a fascinating new perspective. Not only did this experience push me to expand my researching, patterning, and tailoring abilities, but it also challenged me to analyze film and character on a much deeper level. I’m so grateful for this award and now feel more motivated than ever to pursue a career in costume design."

Patterns for Performance 2025 Highly Commended: Parker Spear

Parker is an MA Historical Costume student at Arts University of Bournemouth and she designed and made a costume for the character of Figaro from Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. Using modified patterns from The Cut of Men’s Clothes, 1600-1900 by Norah Waugh to explore the possibilities of men's period clothing,  Parker also experimented with modern technology including pouring resin, using a 3D pen and screen printing with foil to create innovative textiles for the piece. Parker entered the competition because she has a passion for storytelling through costume which is rooted in a historical context and believes that costumes play a vital role in an actor’s performance. Parker is interested in exploring how textiles and colour can convey character and meaning in costume. She used natural dying along with other textile techniques to create a sense of opulence and decay, suggesting the class divides present in the opera.

Patterns for Performance 2025 Runner Up: Sophie Fretwell

Sophie’s entry is a costume design for a new interpretation of Prospero from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The costume emerged from Sophie’s PhD research which explores the history and future potential of spectacular costume design in film. Incorporating innovative technologies and materials with traditional craftsmanship techniques, and drawing on her experience working as a costume concept artist, Sophie has chosen as the loose gown c.1600, originally created in slashed silk brocade (Arnold et al. 2023, pg. 140) as the starting point for her innovative design.

“Being part of the Patterns for Performance competition gave me the opportunity to push my practice in new directions—integrating wearable technology, responsive materials and kinetic elements into a costume design for screen. It was exciting to see how future-focused approaches can sit alongside traditional craftsmanship in performance design. I'm grateful for the opportunity!”

For more information about both awards including past winners, please see our dedicated Patterns for Performance website page.

Images will be uploaded soon.