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Calling All Teachers

 The Class Proposal Submission Period -  December 12, 2024 - January 24, 2025.  

Instructions for how to register as a prospective teacher and to submit class proposals are available here or by clicking the link at the bottom of the page. 

The success of Costume College relies on you, our wonderful and generous volunteer teachers. Please help us fill Costume College 2025 with a full slate of lecture and workshop classes. Whether you have taught for many years or just started to share your mastery and knowledge, we want to extend an invitation to you to teach at Costume College 2025.

We believe that diverse perspectives and experiences enrich our costuming community. We warmly welcome class proposals that celebrate the rich history of costuming from all backgrounds, communities, and cultures (especially those underserved and underrepresented). Whether you're sharing self-taught knowledge or hard-learned lessons, highlighting historical contributions, or exploring contemporary cultural expressions through costume, your expertise adds value to our programs at Costume College and Costumer’s Guild West.

If you or someone you know has insights to share about costume traditions, techniques, or history from different cultural backgrounds or lived experiences, we'd love to learn about it. Together, we can create a vibrant learning environment where everyone's costume journey is celebrated and valued.

Here are some class ideas to inspire you…

  • Afrofuturism
  • Appreciation vs. appropriation
  • Asian Double-Sided embroidery
  • BIPOC/AAPI/MENA/LGBTQ+/Disabled experiences in costuming
  • Block printing
  • Body image in non-Western cultures and its influence on fashion
  • Built-in bodice support
  • Caring for fabrics and finished costumes
  • Clothing as coded communication
  • Corset and stay making classes from all eras
  • Corset flossing
  • Corsetry for limited mobility
  • Creative costuming hacks
  • Cultural heritage dressing, hairdressing, and makeup
  • Details Galore! Pleating, tassels, fly fringe, buttonholes, beading
  • Digitizing sewing patterns
  • Drafting and sewing trousers
  • Fashion history of non-Western cultures
  • Foundation garments in non-Western Cultures
  • Gender neutral costuming
  • Glove making
  • History of materials used in fashion and their original source
  • History of drag
  • How to be an ally in Costuming
  • How to drape clothing
  • Influence of non-Western cultures on American and European fashion
  • Jacket and Waistcoat Tailoring
  • Making a muslin
  • Making accessories (jewelry, fans, stockings, shoe decorations)
  • Making jodhpurs
  • Making silk flowers
  • Millinery techniques
  • Neurodivergence and Costuming
  • Pattern drafting for real bodies
  • Pattern grading
  • Ribbon embroidery
  • Working with ALL hair textures for period-appropriate styles
  • Working with Disabilities
  • Working with feathers
  • Working with spandex and stretch fabrics

 

We will be accepting class proposal submissions from December until January.  Please don’t wait until the last minute! The Programming Team will finalize the class schedule in February and you will be contacted to confirm which of your proposed classes have been scheduled.

If you have any questions or there is anything that you feel would help enhance the teaching experience, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

Thank you in advance for sharing so much of yourself to help make Costume College a dynamic and engaging experience for all.

Lauren Dedow, Programming-Teacher Liaison 2025


Prospective Teacher Registration and Class Proposal(s) Instructions