top of page

2025 Theme:
Costume Production / Embodied Practice!

To be literate in clothing is to be fully present in all the senses. Costume work requires a knowledge of materials that comes more from the hands than the head; it requires skills of deep listening, close looking, and a kind of empathetic imagination. This embodied knowledge is such a key part of costume practice….but what is it, actually? Why is it a valuable skill? 

 

The post-pandemic years have theoretically brought us back “in person,” yet we spend more and more of our time on zoom, online, remote, virtual… disembodied. Anxiety has been called an “invisible pandemic,” and we have all seen how it affects our students and ourselves. The best recourse to anxiety is being grounded in the present, in our bodies, in community, making things, and giving our imaginations a place to roam in positive directions. In other words, costume practice is the perfect antidote to one of the biggest challenges faced by our students today. 

 

In this year’s workshop, we turn to the physical and material discourse of costume production to examine the embodied practice essential to our work. We will map when, where, and why we do it, and unpack how we show our students (and our institutions) why this kind of work has value.

Workshop 2025 Schedule
May 17, 18 & 31, 1-4PM ET

 

May 17 : Community Gathering; Panel Discussion

May 18 : Keynote Address

May 19-23 & 27-30 : Specialty Session Workshops

May 31 : ATCA | Connecting and Community

All workshops take place over Zoom.

Registration now open!

 

​​

​

With institutional support from the University of Michigan,

the workshop remains free of charge.

ReDressing the Narrative is ATCA’s annual workshop
ReDressing the Narrative workshops center the unique interests and challenges of costume educators. Participants are empowered to reexamine common practices through the lens of annual themes, and consider the spaces (costume classrooms, costume shops, fitting rooms, performances) where we might reinvigorate our design and production pedagogy. The workshop models a “learner-centered” approach to course design by prioritizing active participation, leading with questions, and building community. Themes of past workshops have included:

  • Costume Pedagogy:

    • Backwards Design

    • Scaffolded Assignments

    • Transparency in Teaching

    • Accessibility & Inclusivity

    • Empathy-Centered Teaching

    • Difficult Classroom Moments

  • Costume Curriculum:

    • Costume Design

    • Fashion / Costume History

    • Costume Construction

    • Production Practica

    • Hair & Makeup

  • Special Topics:

    • Decolonizing Fashion

    • Social Justice

    • Sustainability

    • Student & Faculty Burnout

    • Creativity

Specialty Sessions Workshops

Enrich your ReDressing the Narrative experience by leading or participating in Specialty Sessions. Share recent scholarship or teaching strategies, test-drive new ideas, facilitate a discussion (you don't have to be an expert!), build community through affinity groups.

Directions for sign up will be shared with registration materials in May.​

Pro Tip: Hold room in your calendar for these impromptu participant-run sessions.

© 2025 ATCA

Website Silhouettes.png
bottom of page