Meet Clemence: The 8 Year Old Costume Designer

In Summer 2020 we offered young people the chance to become Bristol Old Vic's newest costume designer. All they had to do was send us their best design for Cinderella, Titania or Long John Silver inspired by an image from our archive.

Designer Katie Sykes chose three winners from over seventy amazing entries, and we teamed up with talented makers from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School to turn their designs into real costumes.

We invited 8 year old Clemence, who designed the winning entry for A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s Titania, to come and look at the finished costume and talk to us about her design.

Taking inspiration from Titania’s love for the garden, she dreamed up a green, blue and pink fairy gown adorned with birds and flowers, complete with glittery wings and an impressive starry headdress.

Costume maker Summer Maria York from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School brought it to life over 8 months, hand embroidering the birds and flowers and using over a kilometre of fabric (that's from Bristol Old Vic all the way up Park Street to the museum!). The finished costume was modelled by Dumile Sibanda and photographed by Kris Cowley.

You can come and see Titania and the other winning costumes in our From Page To Stage: Redesigning Classic Costumes exhibition in the entrance to the Pit. Don’t forget to look out for them when you come to watch Robin Hood this Christmas!

Want to know more? Read more about our exhibitions here.