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MFA in Costume Design & Costume Technology

The University of Illinois MFA in Costume Design and Costume Technology prepares artists to lead through both artistry and technology. We train designers and technologists in a program that recognizes costume as both an artistic language and a material discipline.

Students pursue one of two degrees—MFA in Costume Design or MFA in Costume Technology—while sharing a rigorous foundation in research, history, construction, visual analysis, and collaborative production. The result is a cohort of artists fluent across disciplines and capable of shaping contemporary performance at the highest professional level.

What to Expect-

Two Tracks, One Program

Design students concentrate on visual storytelling, dramaturgy and script analysis, deep research strategies, and leadership within the design process.

Technology students focuses on the engineering, chemistry, and management skills required to translate the conceptual language into 3D reality.

Both tracks:

Share core coursework
Train together in studios and production spaces
Collaborate on all realized productions
Access the same faculty and facilities
Develop professional portfolios grounded in both thinking and making

Grounded in Tradition

We believe innovation requires mastery.

Our curriculum begins with sustained training in the classical foundations of costume practice:

Costume history (two-semester sequence)
Research in the psychology and sociology of dress
Draping and flat patterning
Tailoring and historical construction methods
Textile research and material literacy
Critical play analysis and dramaturgical research

Students also engage with museum and costume collections, Rare Books and Manuscript Library, visiting scholars, and professional practitioners to develop historical fluency and visual rigor.

Engaged with Innovation

Students are encouraged to test the boundaries of costume as a medium while remaining grounded in technique and scholarship.

Our program actively supports:

Experimental and non-linear performance practices
Digital costume rendering and 3-D visualization
Clo3D technology
Lazer cutting, 3D printing, LED and other lights in costumes, and sublimation printing
Sustainable production practices
Cross-disciplinary collaboration with art, engineering, and design

Strong Community

The program operates as a tight knit community within a larger ecosystem of the Krannert Center of the Performing Arts.

12 MFA students
A strong BFA cohort
Seven faculty specialists across design, technology, hair and makeup and drawing
Professional costume shop staff

Students consistently cite the collaborative culture as one of the program’s defining strengths. The cohort functions as creative laboratory, professional network, and psychological support system.

Production as Pedagogy

Production assignments vary within the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts: the three resident producers, Theatre, Dance and Lyric, provide vast range of live production experiences.

Design students’ production assignments:

Minimum of two mainstage designs

One contemporary small/medium production

One large-scale opera or musical

In addition, there are opportunities to design with the Department Dance @ Illinois

Technology students’ production assignments:

One production assignment per semester

Roles include draper, crafts head, or equivalent

Assistantships & Professional Training

All admitted students receive assistantships that include:

Tuition waiver

Stipend

Professional experience in:

Krannert Center costume shop

Wig and makeup studio

Coordinating Costumes for the Department of Dance at Illinois

Costume rental

Thesis and/or Professional Internship

The Design MFA culminates in a substantial 2-semester independent thesis:

A realized garment, production, or installation, supported by sustained research, experimentation, anddocumentation

The Costume Technology MFA culminates in the research-based project:

Professional internship, conference presentation and/or museum reproduction

Facilities & Resources

Students work primarily within the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, with access to:

Fully equipped costume shop
Millinery, Dye, Craft facilities
Wig and makeup studio
Siebel Center for Design with access to laser etching, 3D printing, large format printer, cnc routers.
CU Community Fab Lab (3-D printing, laser cutting, electronics)
School of Art & Design digital labs (screen printing, VR, digital fashion)

Career Outcomes

Graduates work as: