Costume designer


 * You may be looking for the production team title of "Costumes", used extensively in the 1963 version of Doctor Who''.

A costume designer is, in the broadest sense, someone who develops the look of costumes in a theatrical performance or piece of filmed entertainment. However, as employed by Doctor Who and her sister shows, the titular "Costume Designer" is someone who is the the head of the costume department, itself a division of the art department. He or she oversees every aspect of wardrobing the actors in a given episode of a Doctor Who universe, from the original concept to the actual production (or purchase) of the clothes, to the mundane personnel management issues his or her staff may face. He or she is one of the key department heads, and reports to the production designer.

Differences between the 1963 and 2005 versions of the job
The position, as is practiced in the 21st century, first arose in Doctor Who on the Paul McGann telemovie. Prior to this, the costume department of the British Broadcasting Corporation would assign individual designers to single serials of Doctor Who. These people were usually credited with the title "Costumes", and had fewer managerial responsibilities. Though the core of their job had much commonality with the modern costume designer, many of the responsibilities of current Doctor Who costume designers were actually handled by a person uncredited on any individual BBC programme, who managed costuming across all the programmes that were in production at the BBC at a given moment. In the BBC Wales version, however, the costume department is more tightly integrated with the art department. As a result, the design process is more collaborative, with some costume designs actually beginning outside the confines of the costume department, and some set or prop designs influenced by the costume department.

People that report to the BBC Wales costume designer include, but are not limited to, assistant costume designers, costume assistants, costume supervisors and standby costumes personnel.

A key measure of the difference between the so-called "classic Doctor Who" designers and those of the modern series can be found in Ray Holman. Hiring him was not a decision to hire just the individual, but instead his company, Ray Holman Design, Ltd. This company then added its own personnel to the production team of Doctor Who, beginning with The Eleventh Hour. Such a situation never applied to designers of the 1963 version of Doctor Who — all of whom were completely regular employees of the BBC.

Credited costume designers
As of 2010, there have been four individuals to have headed the costume department on Doctor Who. For the 1996 movie, the costume designer was Jori Woodman. From Rose to The Parting of the Ways, it was Lucinda Wright. Louise Page took over at The Christmas Invasion and continued through to The End of Time. The current incumbent is Ray Holman, who also had earlier provided temporary assistance to Doctor Who on the double banked episodes of Blink and Turn Left.''

Holman was also the costume designer for the first three series of Torchwood.

As of 2009, The Sarah Jane Adventures had two credited costume designers. Pam Tait was the costume designer for the New Year's Day special, Invasion of the Bane. Stewart Meachem, however, was named costume designer fo the series proper, and held that position through its first three series.