Voice Of Costume - Creating Character through Costume Design Catherine Baumgardner - Costume Designer and Educator

The “Voice of Costume” is the first podcast created between working costume designers sharing stories, inspiration, struggles, and insights into the creative career of costume design. Please comment and leave a 5-star review to help get the voices of these Costume Designers into the world.
Listen in on this inspirational, one-on-one conversation between Allyson Fanger and Catherine Baumgardner.
Welcome Allyson - This fabulous costume designer is well known for her design work on Shrinking starring Harrison Ford, the Netflix series: Grace and Frankie starring Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, and Apples Never Fall
TOPICS INCLUDE: 
STARTING OUT:
Growing up in Minnesota
Aunt Molly and her bag of jewelry
Mom and her Vogue Magazines
Dad outfit
Travel influences
Undirected and exploring
Anthropology Degree influence
The beauty of India
Not knowing what to do with her life
The moment she knew what she should do with her life
Her first film
Her first mentor in costume design
Moving to LA
Learning all the positions
 
COMING BACK (min 13):
Taking a 7 year break to be a mom
Being very directed and purposeful
 Doing a favor that propelled her back
Being a mom as a priority while working
 
GRACE & FRANKIE (min 19)
Grace inspired by her mom
Grace color palette and visual arc
Frankie as the converse to Grace
Frankie as colorful and chaotic
“What would Sharon Davis do?”
Taking more than one fitting to find it
Finding it with Lily Tomlin
 
SHRINKING (min 33)
Contrast colors for character mood
 
APPLES NEVER FALL (min 35)
Contrast color to create a focal point
Love designing families
Using Brands to define characters
Shop where the characters shop
Characters “closet shopping”
SPOILER - character arc reveal
Many brands of tennis capsule looks
Pickleball vs Tennis looks
‘Shapes of tennis looks’
Breakdown of the Final Scene Looks
Pajamas as a Final Look
Relating to being a mom
Fitting room with Sam Neill
 
PROCESS (min 56)
Finding real people
Staying goal oriented
Working in LA
Happiness as a costume designer
 
RAPID FIRE (min 68)

The “Voice of Costume” is the first podcast created between working costume designers sharing stories, inspiration, struggles, and insights into the creative career of costume design. Please comment and leave a 5-star review to help get the voices of these Costume Designers into the world.
Listen in on this inspirational, one-on-one conversation between Fernaz Khaki-Sadigh and Catherine Baumgardner.
Welcome Fernaz - Costume Designer for television series including Upload, Marvel’s Helstrom, The 100 and No Tomorrow, Van Helsing, and Avatar: The Last Airbender
Topics Include:
Growing up in TV in Iran
MBA degree mixed with the BFA Design degree
Marketing yourself as a designer
Avatar: Last Airbender TV Show
Getting the dream job
Interview process
Getting the “phone call”
Actual design changes
Example costume in a character arc
Mixing time period, culture, and fantasy
Preproduction testing
90 person costume crew
Overcoming self-doubt
Importance of Stepping away
Inspired by female samurai warriors
Advice for beginning designers
Personal wardrobe story
Bucket list jobs
Favorite movie to rewatch
and more!

The “Voice of Costume” is the first podcast created between working costume designers sharing stories, inspiration, struggles, and insights into the creative career of costume design. Please comment and leave a 5-star review to help get the voices of these Costume Designers into the world.
Listen in on this inspirational, one-on-one conversation between Heather Pain and Catherine Baumgardner.
Welcome Heather Pain -  Costume Designer for film, television, theater and commercials. She has designed for tv shows such as: TED, Ghosts, Single Parents, and Melissa and Joey.
Topics Include:
What is success
Growing up
Exploring design at a competitive college 
Fashion Design vs Fashion Merchandising
Her mentors
Training Program
Advice for aspiring designers
Difficulty of period design
Difficulty of contemporary design
Designing TED
Finding the ‘missing piece’
Problem solving having Covid
Challenges of Ghosts
Reaching out to Jac West
Going towards your fears
Learning from failure
Stages of Enjoying the Design
Remembering 1990’s fashion
“Jean jacket queen”
Rapid fire questions!

The “Voice of Costume” is the first podcast created between working costume designers sharing stories, inspiration, struggles, and insights into the creative career of costume design. Please comment and leave a 5-star review to help get the voices of these Costume Designers into the world.
Listen in on this inspirational, one-on-one conversation between Matthew Hemesath and Catherine Baumgardner.
Welcome Matthew Hemesath - T his amazing designer worked as an assistant and associate designer on the John Wick franchise, costume designer for The Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt (Series Finale Movie) and series Dr. Death, Boomerang, The First Lady, and Tina Fey’s Girls5Eva.
Topics Include:
One hit wonder or career
Working on John Wick
Growing up on a Dairy Farm
Turning from actor to designer
Older brother influence as designer
Shadowed another designer
Overcoming problems
Value of sketching ideas
Getting the job on Girls5Eva
Bold email to Tina Fey
Creating a storybook palette
Pushback from actors on designs
The life infused into theatre production
Breaking down a TV script
Keanu Reeves
John Wick
Recharging
Want to visit
Suggested place to visit
Favorite Comedy
Favorite Film
When things go wrong forces creativity

The “Voice of Costume” is the first podcast created between working costume designers sharing stories, inspiration, struggles, and insights into the creative career of costume design. Please comment and leave a 5-star review to help get the voices of these Costume Designers into the world.
Listen in on this inspirational, one-on-one conversation between Danya Pink and Catherine Baumgardner.
Welcome Danya Pink -  Costume Designer for Crazy, Stupid, Love; Tenacious D, Bumblebee, Badboys for Life, HBO’s Lovecraft Country, And Netflix’s Road House
Topics Include:
Getting started in Costume
Tenancious D music video to film 
Working for $100/day
Realizing Clothing as Story Telling
Crazy,Stupid, Love
Steve Carrell
Roadhouse
Production Logistics
Action impacting Design
Selecting the pants
Making the shirts
Lovecraft Country Design Pitch
Connor with no pants
The jacket choice
Needing Multiples 
Pants that look good vs pants for action
Rapid Fire questions!

The “Voice of Costume” is the first podcast created between working costume designers sharing stories, inspiration, struggles, and insights into the creative career of costume design. Please comment and leave a 5-star review to help get the voices of these Costume Designers into the world.
Listen in on this inspirational, one-on-one conversation between Katie Irish and Catherine Baumgardner.
Welcome Katie Irish - This Designer began as an assistant designer for Broadway shows like: Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, Fences, Shrek then moved on to The Americans Series and the mini-series about Lincoln’s assassination, Manhunt on Apple+
Topics Include:
Raised with a pilot father
Theatre vs Scripted Tv
Swimming in a pool vs swimming in the ocean
Working while raising children
Assistant on Spiderman on Broadway
Working on the Americans
Manhunt - 
Surprising Colors of the period
Creating a pitch deck for characters
How to discuss budget with producers
Metaphors/Anchors in Manhunt
Stanton “Mars” as ‘the wolf’
Symbolism that helps ground a character
Flower symbolism in the period
Mary Todd Lincoln’s dress
Traits she wish she had
Words of wisdom
A top place to travel
A top costume movie
Genre wants to design for