About Us
Chloe and Christianne first connected in 2019 with the goal of holding a workshop dedicated to alternate ways to teach fashion history to student costume designers. Many of us had learned fashion history through the Euro-centered “parade of fashion,” with a focus on the changing silhouettes of primarily wealthy white Western women between the Greeks and the mid-20th Century. While our colleagues in art history, theater history, and fashion history classrooms were moving away from the “survey” class, we felt that costume curriculum deserved a space of its own to reflect on our own needs.
What was intended to be a one-time, in-person gathering was disrupted by the pandemic, forcing us to shift online, and allowed more participants to join. This gathering, our first “ReDressing the Narrative” workshop, created an enormous sense of community which slacked a thirst for connection with other costume educators, many of whom expressed frustration with a lack of understanding and agency within their institutions. As a response, we formed the American Theatrical Costume Association and created this website as a resource for the particular needs of costume educators. Annual workshops continue to gather our community together to highlight the goals and challenges of the work we do.
We recently reflected on what we have learned from costume educators across America in an article, “ReDressing the Narrative: combating systemic marginalization through collective engagement in costume pedagogy,” which appears in a special issue on costume pedagogy in the journal dedicated to costume studies, Studies in Costume and Performance.
Chloe Chapin
(Co-Founder)
Assistant Director, Course Design, Derek Bok Center for Teaching & Learning at Harvard University
​
Chloe Chapin is a costume designer, maker, and fashion scholar. She holds a PhD in American studies (Harvard University), masters degrees in history (Harvard), fashion and textile studies (Fashion Institute of Technology), and design (Yale School of Drama), and a BFA in performance production (Cornish College of the Arts). Chloe’s costume credits include: Broadway (associate/assistant): Equus, HAIR!, American Idiot, Passing Strange; New York: The Civilians, BAM, Clubbed Thumb; Regional: Hartford Stage, Two River, Yale Rep. Chloe has been teaching since 2006, at FIT, Parsons, Reed College, and most recently for Harvard’s Pre-College & Extension School Programs, and she coaches artists in academia through thresholdadvising.com. Chloe’s research has been supported by a Fulbright Grant, and fellowships at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Museum of American History, Monticello, Mount Vernon, the Huntington Library, the Winterthur Library, and the American Antiquarian Society. Chloe’s fashion scholarship has been published in Fashion Theory and Dress, and her first book, Suits: the Making of Modern Men will be published in 2026 by Oxford University Press. Her most recent making practice / obsession is William Morris-print needlepoint cushions.
Christianne Myers
(Co-Founder)
Claribel Baird Halstead Collegiate Professor of Theatre & Drama at the University of MIchigan
​
Christianne Myers is a costume designer and educator working at the intersection of pedagogy and practice. She holds an MFA in Costume Design from New York University and BFA in Theater Design from Pace University. Her costume design work includes theatre, opera, industrials, and film. New York highlights: Music Theatre Group's Running Man, Dare Clubb's Oedipus, Lincoln Center Institute, and 17 shows at The Juilliard School; as a stitcher and first hand she worked at Donna Langman and Parsons-Meares’ studios. Regional Design: Santa Fe Opera, Detroit Public Theatre, Clarence Brown Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Indiana Rep, Theatreworks/USA, Caldwell Theatre, Irondale, and Opera Memphis. Since joining the University of Michigan in 2002, Christianne has designed over 50 shows for The School of Music Theatre & Dance, served as interim Chair of the Dept. of Theatre & Drama, and is the Area Head for Design & ProductionS she is a silo-buster and convener who seeks opportunities to bridge disciplines and color outside the lines. Recent work has included securing internal grants to support ATCA and writing One Approach to Student Engagement in Educational Season Selection for Howlround Theatre Commons. A passion for puppets allows her to keep her hands busy carving, cutting and repurposing the unreasonable amount of cardboard she’s been hoarding. She occasionally blogs on her portfolio website.
Values
The professional goals of the work created by the ATCA community are to reflect the widest possible range of humanity through costume design and production in a way that is respectful to the cultures, characters, and collaborators we create in and with. It is our job to materially manifest a range of human and non-human identities, including zombies, firebirds, puppets, plants, and mascots: all of whom are welcome in our practice.Outside of the performance world we inhabit, the ATCA community welcomes workshop participants across the same spectrum of identities that we recognize and support in our work as costumers: this includes all humans, regardless of age or ability; race, ethnicity, national origin, or regional identification; gender- or sexuality-based orientation, identity or expression; institutional affiliation, teaching rank, or professional identity; economic or educational background; religious, spiritual, or political affiliation; and/or parental or caregiver status. As theatrical canons, industries, and audiences continue to evolve, so must our costume knowledge, practice, and classrooms. Our workshops hold space for thinking collectively about how we can continue to make costume practice better for us, and for everybody.