The Costumier

With experience working with projects from Bell Shakespeare to Moulin Rouge, TAFE NSW Sydney Institute teacher and course co-ordinator, Roslyn O'Dell has invaluable experience and contacts in the industry.

"TAFE NSW encourages its staff to return to the industry regularly to keep up to date," says O'Dell. "One of the main things in the course is that most of the modules are taught by industry specialists and special guest speakers to lecture on their area of expertise. One of the modules is 'work placement'. That's one of my jobs – to place them in the industry – and I visit them on location, costume workrooms and on film sets. The course itself is very demanding, but the students are highly motivated and produce great work. Some are already working in theatre or film, or are university graduates who have a degrees theatre studies and want to specialise in costume."

Patrick Bremner works in the Wild One, a fetish shop in Newtown. He was approached recently to help with the costume for the new production of Rocky Horror Picture Show. Patrick got into costumery when he was involved with the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics in 2000 where he volunteered, along with 100 other students of TAFE fashion courses, to sew sequins and the various other tasks that had to be completed on the hundreds of costumes. His current project is to recreate all the costume for the movie Tank Girl, including an 8 foot kangaroo.