Costume Industry 4.0: Revealing Innovation in Theatre's Most Overlooked Production Area

Authors

• Madeline Taylor Aalto University

Keywords:

costume, technology adoption, digital patternmaking, 3D printing, domestication theory, diffusion of innovation

Abstract

While digital innovations for theatre production have become widespread across many areas of staging, lighting, sound and projection, costume has frequently been considered technologically stagnant – reliant on tools like the sewing machine that are now so familiar we no longer even think of them as technologies. This attitude has limited investment in the costume sector. However, costume practitioners are acutely orientated towards problem-solving and learning, and this orientation is evident in the increasing uptake of new digital technologies that offer exciting opportunities for costume work. Tools like digital pattern-making programs that offer 3D rendering capabilities and 3D printers are being implemented for costume work both globally and locally in Finland. Exploring the diffusion of these innovations and their implications for theatre practice is “Technological Innovations in Costume Practice” (TICP), a Horizon Europe-
funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship research project at Aalto University, Helsinki. Led by Dr Madeline Taylor, the project is drawing on practitioner experiences around the world to develop theoretical models and practical industry-focused resources.