1984 Education: Costume
Take a look inside the world of costume design for 1984! The costume in this show does a lot!!
The costumes help us understand the time period, the characters and the different roles played by the actors. They are also particularly important because the same actor plays both George Orwell and Winston.
The gowns worn in the torture scenes become increasingly dirty, helping to show that Winston and Julia have been there for a long time. When we first see the Thought Police, their costumes also help create an unsettling feeling and make them immediately recognisable as a threat. Tom has had to find creative ways for the costumes to tell us who we are seeing, where we are and what is happening, while also supporting the many characters and different worlds within the production.
Explore some of Tom Piper’s costume design inspiration
It’s your turn to become the costume designer!
TASK: Either print out the costume design sheet below and create your costume design by hand, or design it digitally using Canva or Photoshop.
Choose one character to create a costume for.
Think carefully about what you want the costume to tell the audience about your character.
Ask yourself whether they are wealthy or poor. What could show this? What is their job? Could we tell what they do just by looking at them? Are they fashionable or unfashionable? Do they care about their appearance? What colours, shapes or materials would suit them? Does their costume change during the story? If so, why? What could the costume tell us about their personality or status?
You don’t have to make the costume realistic. Have fun being creative! Think about how a costume can help tell the story before the character even speaks. For extra guidance, take a look at one of Tom’s costume grids below and see how a designer thinks about the characters and the world of the play.
If you are a literature student exploring this work, once you have the image designed, imagine you are the writer of this story. How would you describe this character’s costume, if its the first time we meet them in the story? How does this compare to how they are described in Orwell’s book?
Back to 1984 education page
The 1984 education pack is here to help you dig a little deeper into 1984 and the choices behind the production. Head back to the main page to explore more.