Costumes As A Marker of Time: Socio-Economic Movement
“Costume Design can be used to suggest the passage of time within a story.”
Costume design is a critical element in storytelling, serving to convey a wide range of information about characters. It offers insights into their socio-economic status, their connection to the world they inhabit, and even their approachability. One powerful way to leverage costume design is through the passage of time—be that years, months, weeks, or even hours.
“Costume Design can be used to suggest the passage of time within a story.” — Patricia “Pat” Fields
Characters that utilize costumes to reflect socio-economic movement tend to about underdogs rising to the top or people at the top crashing down.
Upward Economic movement
You might start your film with your character wearing lower price point clothing that doesn’t fit well, then transition them to high-end, well fitting attire at the end of their journey. Since every element of an outfit costs money, at the start, they might have little in terms of accessories and end with more accessorized looks at the end.
Since there is always an arch in the shifting of a character’s status, it could mean as they become slowly wealthier over the course of the story, you change out only a few pieces at a time until it’s the entire outfit. Maybe they have a new suit, but their shoes are still the old beat up ones from before.
Downward Economic movement
If the transition is the opposite, then a character might have really nice things that distress over time as they no longer can afford to buy new clothing. Subtle changes could be the wearing out of high friction points such as collars, pockets and cuffs. Frayed edges, seams coming undone, missing buttons, or even slight stainage could all be indicators of a negative passage of time. With suiting, it can be fun to breakdown the interfacing and structure that keeps a suit look crisp by washing it or over steaming it. This causes the suiting to loose it’s shape.
When choosing to distress a character’s wardrobe to show passage of time, you’ll want to have multiples for out of order shooting and potential reshoots. Once a garment is distressed, you can’t go back.
It’s also possible that the character ends up wearing lower price point items as they need to replace their clothing over the course of time with things no longer fitting the same or being second hand.
Social movement
If part of a character’s story is their shift in social circles, their clothing will reflect that. They could join a religious sect, club, or gang and take on the symbolic clothing of that group. This really can be any type of group with it’s own specific look or one that you cultivate for your film.
This shift in how they present themself over time will reflect their relationship to the group they have chosen to become more a part of as their old identity melts away. This could look like a shift in color palette, line quality, textures and movement within their clothing. The higher the contrast within the design elements, the further your character will feel like they’ve traveled.
Socio-economic and fantasy/Sci-fi
In fantasy and sci-fi worlds, there are some really fun ways to show the transition of a a character’s socio-economic transitions. The same rules apply as stated before, however they can look a little different. A character who goes from a lower social standing could be dressed in peasant clothing, them move up the social ladder to become addored with riches and fineries of the world they inhabit. This doesn’t always mean completely new clothes, either. It could simply be adorning their clothing with more trim or accessories.
For someone who’s had a turn of bad luck, it could mean removing trimming or jewelry. For centuries, people wore their wealth on their clothing. The pearls sewn onto renaissance dresses were real. So, your character could sell the pearls off their dress to afford life as they progress through their economic fall.
How you choose to utilize costumes to indicate the passage of time will depend on what your goals are with the film and what you want your audience to walk away knowing and understanding. When we consciously think about how we are utilizing our costumes, filmmakers like ourselves can enrich our stories with deeper layers of meaning and strengthen our audience's connection to the characters. This dynamic aspect of costume design helps to build a more immersive worlds and also contributes to the emotional resonance of the story.
If you’d like to learn more about worldbuilding and costume design, register for Costume Design for Film & TV where you’ll learn how to utilize costumes as a storytelling tool, how costumes build worlds, and all the practical knowledge for doing the job so you can show up on set confident you have all the information you need to succeed.
More on Sarah
Sarah Cogan is a Designer and Visual Producer for film and tv with over 18 years of experience. She’s designed two Oscar eligible films) and has projects that have won Cannes Festival awards. She’s worked with actors such as Jon Heder, Billy Zane, John Magaro, Will Fitzgerald and more. She’s known for her dedication to the craft and unique perspectives on design. One of her missions is to make film design and the process more accessible to filmmakers and film designers alike through content and workshops.
