Cool job: Costume designer Emily McLaughlin

Cool Jobs

July 19, 2011

Cool job: Costume designer Emily McLaughlin

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Seattle costume designer Emily McLaughlin works on a costume from "The Odyssey" at The Northwest School. (Reynaldo Candela)

What do you do? I am lucky to work at the Seattle Children’s Theatre in wardrobe for the Mainstage Season and as one of the Costume Designers for the Drama School Summerstage Season. I also work as Costume Designer for The Northwest School, and freelance as a designer. My friend Erin and I have started SlySpider Designs, making wallets, bags and purses at www.slyspider.etsy.com and in person at Tasty in Greenwood.

How did you get that job? Talking and working with amazing theatre artists both at SCT and other theaters. The opportunities I have had I owe to them. The first shows I designed were (as a) volunteer -- I learned how to sew by needing to alter costumes and continue to learn everyday.

How does someone else get a job like yours? A background in technical theater, best acquired through school and experience, volunteering for theater companies and/or training in apparel construction. My wardobe job is union with the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees, and my Local 887’s website, iatse887.blogspot.com, has more information.

Best part of the job? Seeing how everything comes together to make the world of a show, which can transform our understandings of reality for a moment, or more if it resonates longer within the people doing or seeing it.

What would surprise people about your job? Maybe the amount of organization and logistics involved in keeping track of things and making sure communication is flowing between the people who need to know — lists, charts, budget decisions, the choreography of dressing and quick changes backstage.