AI overview
Artificial intelligence (AI) is starting to reshape the role of costume designers in film and television, offering assistants and tools that can streamline creative processes and enhance workflow efficiency.
The types of support on offer include assistance with design generation, visualisation and simulation, continuity, fabric selection and historical accuracy checks.
AI can help designers experiment with different looks and styles rapidly, allowing them to test ideas and refine costumes in a virtual environment before creating physical prototypes.
Beyond creative design, AI is also enhancing costume designers’ ability to manage resources and organise large costume inventories.
By analysing past production data, AI tools can help predict budgeting requirements, suggest material options and track wardrobe usage across multiple scenes and characters. Or simply give a complete summary of every costume needed in a production from a script.
AI’s ability to automate these logistical aspects allows costume designers to focus more on creative decision-making while maintaining efficiency in resource allocation and planning.
With AI’s assistance, costume designers can bring more precision and depth to their designs while streamlining the overall workflow.
Download a PDF version of this page.
How can I prepare for the future?
To adapt to AI advancements, costume designers should consider building skills in AI-powered design and image generation tools, alongside data/script analysis tools that support the creative and logistical aspects of their work.
By mastering AI-assisted software for rapid design visualisation, fabric analysis and inventory management, designers can streamline workflows within their own teams and improve their communication to other departments in a production.
Some thought should also be given to the potential of AI design tools to automatically generate clothing patterns from sketches or images, or carry out the reverse and visualise finished items with a range of different size performers from basic clothing patterns.
Training resources like ScreenSkills offer courses tailored to costume design in digital and AI-driven environments, helping designers integrate technology effectively into their creative process.
Embracing AI in costume design
AI presents exciting possibilities for costume designers, combining creative support with data-driven insights to enhance both design and management.
While AI can streamline logistical tasks and assist in visualising initial designs, the core of costume design - capturing a character’s essence, aligning with the story’s visual language and enriching the viewer’s experience - remains a deeply human skill.
For those working in film and high-end TV (HETV), AI can be an invaluable tool that supports innovation without replacing the artistic vision. By thoughtfully integrating AI, costume designers have the opportunity to elevate their work, making each production richer and more cohesive.
What tools can I use right now?
Costume designers have access to various AI tools that support different phases of production, from early conceptualisation to wardrobe management.
Here’s an outline of AI applications across these phases, with suggestions for locally hosted AI models to address confidentiality and the development of AI assistants that have been trained on their own designs and styles.
One of the best ways to learn more about how an AI can help you is to ask it directly.
- Automated design generation: AI tools can work as a visual assistant, visualising, animating and adding realism to initial design sketches, or modifying existing content based on other references or simply merging two designs together. Text based systems can work very well as a sounding board. For example, if you were trying to develop some style options based on specific character descriptions or historical settings, an AI could offer thoughts on your direction, help organise the ideas or offer suggestions. This can enable designers to visualise costumes quickly for distribution or rapidly experiment with a range of styles before committing to a final look. This could potentially come straight from the original script, giving the ability to put together outline budgets and plans with little administrative effort.
- Self-hosted AI models for data privacy: For costume designers working with sensitive scripts or unique design concepts, self-hosted AI models offer secure solutions. By running AI locally, designers can keep creative data confidential while benefiting from AI-driven insights. Models from Meta, Google and Mistral are available and can be run directly on your own computer instead of over the internet. It’s also possible (although still quite difficult) to train some of these AIs with your own images and designs.
- Material and fabric analysis: AI can suggest fabrics and materials based on the character’s role, historical accuracy or scene requirements, and analyse options for cost, durability and suitability. This helps designers make informed choices on fabric quality and availability that align with the creative vision and budget.
- Cost estimation and inventory tracking: AI systems that analyse production costs can predict wardrobe expenses for large projects, helping to manage budget allocations effectively. These tools can also track inventory and stock, providing real-time updates on costume availability and usage, which is essential in productions with complex wardrobe requirements.
- Digital archiving and documentation: AI-powered tools can enable designers to automate some of the process to digitise costume records, labelling, categorisation and the creation of searchable archives, which is useful for maintaining detailed costume logs. This is particularly helpful for productions with large casts, as it ensures that all costume elements are documented for quick future reference or reuse. It is also possible to combine this data set with video and image content directly linking the use of each costume to frames in the production. Or searching previous productions to find the same or similar costumes that could be matched with a current production.
- Audience feedback analysis: AI tools that predict audience engagement can assess costume effectiveness based on initial reactions and cultural trends. This insight may allow designers to align costumes with viewer expectations, especially in high-profile productions where character appearances contribute significantly to audience engagement.
AI-driven design generation: AI tools that create initial sketches based on character descriptions, allowing designers to visualise and adjust costume concepts faster.
Summarising tools for budgeting and planning: Quick summaries and overviews of a script or other content highlighting lists and details of which costumes might be needed, and approximations of budgets based on context and requirements of each costume.
AI image generation: AI tools that take videos, images or photos of existing costumes and visualise changes to material, shape and other impacts quickly.
Self-hosted AI for confidentiality: AI models that can be hosted locally, allowing designers to use AI securely without sharing sensitive design data over the internet.
Fabric and material analysis: AI tools that suggest fabrics based on character requirements and budget, supporting quality and cost-effective choices.
Inventory and cost management: AI that tracks costume usage and predicts costs, supporting efficient wardrobe management.
Audience engagement: AI systems that analyse costume impact on audiences, helping designers align with viewer expectations and trends.
ScreenSkills offers a variety of training opportunities for people at all stages of their career. Explore all training, events and opportunities.
ScreenSkills resources:
- Costume designer job profile
- Costume designer (unscripted TV) job profile
- Costume designer (creative industries) job profile
- Costume designer skills checklist
- ScreenSkills Select courses on digital design
Other resources:
- LinkedIn Learning has tutorials on AI in creative fields and AI in cost management
- GitHub has resources of self-hosting
- YouTube has guides on setting up AI models for private use
- Skillshare offers tutorials on AI in material analysis and AI-driven audience systems