Behind the Book: Get Into Costume

6 September 2026, by Vin Burnham

In this week's blog post, Costume Society member and costume designer Vin Burnham tells us about her experience writing her book Get Into Costume: Design, Make and Manage for the Stage and Screen, published by Bloomsbury and available for pre-order now.

Why did I write this book? It started when I was looking after my parents in their old age, so I was working less, and one thing that I could do from home was to write a book!

It had struck me over the years that I’ve worked with so many work experience students, trainees and newbies on different types of projects, and I saw how some people (not everyone) built successful careers in a relatively short period of time, and I was curious as to why this was - and I found that it wasn’t rocket science.!

And why was it important to write this book now? I actually started it 10 years ago – and it was needed then! The project grew – and grew; eventually into 2 books of which this is the first. But it grew for good reason, because even I hadn’t realised just how big and far reaching my own profession really is, and I was just a tiny part of it. I have worked across different departments: props, costumes, creature effects, prosthetics and superheroes, and I wanted to illustrate how all ofthese disciplines can overlap and hybridise, how they all relate to each other – and to show people new to the profession the bigger picture of where and how they might fit in on their career trajectory.

I was introduced to Bloomsbury by Donatella Barbieri, author of Costume in Performance, and my idea was a perfect fit for their Creative Careers series which is designed to fill the gap between college and the workplace (which can be a big leap rather than a short hop), and they commissioned the title Get Into Costume: (Design, Make and Manage for the Stage and Screen).

My work has always been as part of a team, a crew, a collaboration; which I love being a part of, and I wanted to reflect this in the book, and to highlight just how many different roles there are in a typical costume department. Costume design and making are the focus of most college courses, but there are the all-important costume supervisors, illustrators, co-ordinators, buyers, textile artists, milliners, costume jewellers, and any number of assistants to each of them. Then there is the huge variety of subject matters to consider: period (strict or reinvented), ballet, opera, stretch, contemporary, fantasy and costume effects. And to expand it further, the genres: Theatre and live events, film, TV, advertising, the music biz - and careers can be made in any of these roles and genres.

Through talking at colleges, it is clear to me that there is no shortage of new talent coming in. – and I wanted to help signpost young people to the essential everyday practicalities of costume - of simply getting stuff done, and how, if you can embrace these things and get them under your belt, it will increase your marketability and effectiveness as a professional. Doing this will also take the pressure off the less tangible aspects of creativity and talent which are not necessarily needed right at the start, and which takes time and the experience of working in a costume environment for it to blossom and grow. While the ability to ‘establish a means of communication’ through design work is an essential skill according to Sandy Powell, there are other skills that will lay the foundations for a successful career. As Jenny Beavan noted, ‘Supervisors, along with the assistant costume designer, are the most important members of the team. Their skills in crewing, budget and holding it all together, and to some extent protecting the designer from budgets and logistics, is key to a successful department.’ Practicality and creativity go hand-in-hand.

Graduating in costume is like the tip of the iceberg. It takes time to gain the necessary experience to reach the top job of costume designer - if that’s what you want to be. The journey is necessary, Costume Designer Alejo Vietti is ‘a strong believer in assisting because you can have the opportunity to work on projects at a much higher level than you’d be able to work as a designer at that point. By the time you get to a Broadway show as a designer, if you’ve already been a Broadway assistant, you know exactly how it works and what you need to do.’ Because there are options, and other roles to fill along the way…

And why the supporting cast in the book? One of the best things about working in costume is the people and I’ve worked with numerous talented film and theatre people over the years, many have become lifelong friends. A bit like working on a film, the book was another project, another job and I wanted a good team! And as with any project the contributors all had something unique to say about their work in costume, making it multi-dimensional – and the work of a team. Teamwork is essential, as much as individual talent, as Costume Supervisor Kenny Crouch explained: ‘The best thing for me is seeing an efficient team and costume department come together. You need that in situations like when the team has had to get everybody ready in suits of armour at eight o’clock in the morning only to find the camera is not even off the truck!’.

I didn’t know everyone when I started the book; then during the pandemic I discovered some inspiring talent on Instagram and I decided to make contact with complete strangers whose work I admired and ask them to contribute to my book. They included: Massimo Cantini Parrini, Piero Tosi’s former assistant, whose costumes for Pinocchio (2019) were done with such originality and charm;. I also approached Zaldy Goco,  the designer and maker for Ru Paul’s costumes and Cirque du Soleil;l, as well as nd Cobbie Yates, a young costume designer from South London who built on his experience of dressing bands to becoming a costume designer; , and I was introduced to ‘Bollywood’ costume designer Sheetal Sharma and his sublime costume work. All of their varied experience and talent would show readers just how universal costume is across the globe.

I approached people I knew too. Jenny Beavan, Sandy Powell and Alexandra Byrne; just three of the UK’s most talented and successful costume designers kindly shared their perspectives on working in the profession. And mMy design hero theatre designer John Macfarlane, who I worked for as a young costume/prop maker, and whose drawings are as inspired as the costumes that are born from them, generously contributed his wise words and beautiful drawings to the book. It was also important to acknowledge the first designer I had ever worked for – ‘the maestro’, Nicholas Georgiadis at the (then) Royal Opera House Covent Garden, where I started out in the props department, before becoming one of Nico’s regular makers, so his drawings and costumes are in the book to inspire new generations of costume people. Now a brilliant theatre designer himself, Richard Hudson was Nico’s assistant when I first met him, and he too contributed his thoughts on the profession as well asnd some of his wonderfully inventive drawings.

It was also just as essential to hear from supervisors, buyers, costume makers (of different kinds), milliners and textile artists, many of whom I had known for years, as well as trainees who went on to have successful costume careers – and now I know why! And to top it all, my ‘maestro’ of film costume who influenced my own career hugely, James Acheson, has written the Foreword. The book is as kaleidoscopic as my own career has been and is designed to be an essential, practical and importantly, visual, guide to anyone looking to step into - and thrive - in any role - and thrive, in the extraordinary world of costume.

Get Into Costume: Design, Make and Manage for the Stage and Screen is available to pre-order now, with dispatch from October 2026. Costume Society blog readers can purchase the book with the discount code BURNHAM25. Details and QR code straight to order can be found below.

If you enjoyed Vin's author insight, revisit textile historian Gillian Grute's blog post on her experience writing her book, Heavenly Bodies, on our blog.