Emily is...
A set and costume designer based in Melbourne with a background in interior architectural design and dance, whose practice comprises theatre, dance, performance art, film, television, costume research and education.
In 2023 Emily officially became a Doctor of Costume, PhD…
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Emily’s recent work includes The Lucky Country (Hayes Theatre Co, Sydney), Emilia (Arts Centre, Melbourne), A Resourceful Hero Struggling Against Incredible Odds (Rawcus and St Martin’s Youth Theatre, 2022), Us (St Martin’s Youth Theatre, 2021), Hello, World! (Malthouse Theatre Suitcase Series 2020-1), Control (Red Stitch Actor’s Theatre, 2019), Whale (Northcote Town Hall and Monash 2019), A Little Night Music (Geelong Performing Arts Centre, National Theatre and Whitehorse Centre 2018), Niche (Northcote Town Hall 2017), The Yellow Wave (Poppyseed Festival 2015, Butterfly Club 2016), Dream Home (Speak Easy at Northcote Town Hall 2015), and Eurydice (Red Stitch 2014). She was nominated for a 2016 Green Room Award for best set and costume design for Dream Home.
In 2004 she completed a degree in interior design at RMIT before undertaking a postgraduate diploma at The Victorian College of the Arts in set and costume design in 2007. She completed her PhD in 2023 through the VCA on the topic of costume as a cultural marker, and more specifically how the history of Australian costume for dance intersects with Australia's developing national identity, and how the study of archived costume might contribute to reconciliation in Australia’s future.
Emily participated in the Malthouse Besen Family Artist Program in 2017 with a costume placement on The Black Rider with designer Zoe Atkinson. She was selected as the 2016 set and costume design candidate in Melbourne Theatre Company’s Women in Theatre program with Christina Smith as her mentor, and has previously undertaken a mentorship with Hugh Colman as part of the JUMP Mentorship program. She was awarded an Australia Council ArtStart grant in 2010, and an Ian Potter Cultural Trust grant in 2013 which allowed her to spend 3.5 months in Europe working in the costume department at the Royal Opera House in London, participating in workshops at Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, attending a costume design conference in Belgium and researching costume and textiles across France. She also spent a week on secondment with Lucy Guerin Inc. in Melbourne, observing their development process for Motion Picture.
A move to London in 2011 saw Emily working for Donatella Barbieri, Senior Research Fellow at the Victoria and Albert Museum and London College of Fashion, where she assisted with Donatella’s research into costume for performance working on various projects and publications such as Encounters in the Archive.
Since 2007 Emily has been a member of the founding committee for The Kristian Fredrikson Scholarship, and has given talks about her work and conducted design workshops with secondary school students at numerous schools across Melbourne. In 2015 and 2016 she tutored the Victorian College of the Arts winter elective Design and the Moving Image, and is currently tutoring undergraduate and masters students in the VCA School of Production. She has also worked with costume designer Marion Boyce since 2014, assisting in the costume department on the feature film The Dressmaker and working on various projects including the touring costume exhibitions for Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and The Dressmaker.
LINKS
Critical Costume Conference Flashtalk 2020
Critical Costume Exhibition 2020