Despite Achieving Pay Parity, Some Costume Designers Say ‘We’re Underpaid’
Last year, after decades of fighting, costume designers achieved pay parity.
As part of the General Basic Agreement Negotiations with IATSE, the Costume Designer Guild reached a deal which saw costume designers receiving a wage increase of over 40%, bringing the scale rate in line with similar creative peers. It was a landmark win for the guild, which had spent years fighting for pay equity.
Despite that, some costume designers feel there’s still a pay gap.
“I think we’re underpaid,” said “Another Simple Favor” costume designer Renée Ehrlich Kalfus on a panel with fellow costume designers Natalie Humphries (“The Day of the Jackal”), Tsigie White Robinson (“Power Book III: Raising Kanan”) and Janie Bryant (“1923”) on Variety’s Artisans Exchange Costume Designers panel moderated by senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay.
Kalfus, whose credits also include “Hidden Figures” and “Chocolat,” noted that costume designers often carry a heavy load as department heads. “People say this actually often, ‘Your crew is one of the hardest working,’ and we are,” she said.
Robinson agreed that costume designers “don’t make enough.” She pointed out that there is a big misconception about the job, saying: “People think, ‘Oh, because they can dress because they know the trends, they can be a costume designer.’ Well, that’s not really what this is about.”
Costume designers are often the first on set and the last ones to go home. As Robinson noted, “I’m up at 4 a.m. and I don’t sometimes get home until midnight. You know, I have an 8-year-old son, and I pour everything into my work, into my craft and my crew.”
In addition to fittings and running an entire team of cutters, tailors, seamstresses and more, as department heads, Robinson said the job means “having to manage 25 people and 25 personalities. It’s having to manage a budget, having to manage actors and what they want, what they don’t want.” She went on to say, “It’s an incredible amount of pressure that we have, and that we have to manage, and we have to give a lot of grace, when grace is not always given to us.”
Overwhelming data, research and statistics were compiled to help costume designers achieve the major success of pay parity. Pay Equity Now was a movement that ran for over a decade to highlight the pay inequities and gained traction as contracts were negotiated. The movement encouraged costume designers to ask their agents to demand the same pay as their peers.
Kalfus believes more work needs to be done in educating people about the behind-the-scenes and day-to-day workings of the job. “It is an enormous undertaking, essentially with the kind of responsibilities of a full-out department head, which is expected of us,” she said, adding: “You start with the director, you have producers, everybody wants something. Then you are the first line of fire with an actor. You’re instrumental in getting them on camera.” She noted that if an actor isn’t happy, then so many things can go wrong.
In a statement to Variety, president of the Costume Designers Guild Terry Gordon stressed that huge progress had been made for the guild, and called the contract the “most comprehensive and successful that our guild has achieved in decades.” This was further highlighted by the Oscars when host Jimmy Kimmel brought a “nude” John Cena on stage to announce the best costume design nominees. “He succinctly stated and cemented the importance of costumes to a global audience,” Gordon said.
However, Gordon reiterates that the work for total parity is not yet complete, and there is more work to be done. “We had to leave a few issues on the table and we are working now to present and correct those points at the next negotiation,” she said.
For now, the biggest win for costume designers isn’t just achieving pay parity — something they’ve spent years fighting for — but having the power to negotiate above the base. “What we have achieved is an equal base from which everyone can rise,” Gordon said. “Responsibility to negotiate above that base lies with each designer or their agent.”
As part of the General Basic Agreement Negotiations with IATSE, the Costume Designer Guild reached a deal which saw costume designers receiving a wage increase of over 40%, bringing the scale rate in line with similar creative peers. It was a landmark win for the guild, which had spent years fighting for pay equity.
Despite that, some costume designers feel there’s still a pay gap.
“I think we’re underpaid,” said “Another Simple Favor” costume designer Renée Ehrlich Kalfus on a panel with fellow costume designers Natalie Humphries (“The Day of the Jackal”), Tsigie White Robinson (“Power Book III: Raising Kanan”) and Janie Bryant (“1923”) on Variety’s Artisans Exchange Costume Designers panel moderated by senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay.
Kalfus, whose credits also include “Hidden Figures” and “Chocolat,” noted that costume designers often carry a heavy load as department heads. “People say this actually often, ‘Your crew is one of the hardest working,’ and we are,” she said.
Robinson agreed that costume designers “don’t make enough.” She pointed out that there is a big misconception about the job, saying: “People think, ‘Oh, because they can dress because they know the trends, they can be a costume designer.’ Well, that’s not really what this is about.”
Costume designers are often the first on set and the last ones to go home. As Robinson noted, “I’m up at 4 a.m. and I don’t sometimes get home until midnight. You know, I have an 8-year-old son, and I pour everything into my work, into my craft and my crew.”
In addition to fittings and running an entire team of cutters, tailors, seamstresses and more, as department heads, Robinson said the job means “having to manage 25 people and 25 personalities. It’s having to manage a budget, having to manage actors and what they want, what they don’t want.” She went on to say, “It’s an incredible amount of pressure that we have, and that we have to manage, and we have to give a lot of grace, when grace is not always given to us.”
Overwhelming data, research and statistics were compiled to help costume designers achieve the major success of pay parity. Pay Equity Now was a movement that ran for over a decade to highlight the pay inequities and gained traction as contracts were negotiated. The movement encouraged costume designers to ask their agents to demand the same pay as their peers.
Kalfus believes more work needs to be done in educating people about the behind-the-scenes and day-to-day workings of the job. “It is an enormous undertaking, essentially with the kind of responsibilities of a full-out department head, which is expected of us,” she said, adding: “You start with the director, you have producers, everybody wants something. Then you are the first line of fire with an actor. You’re instrumental in getting them on camera.” She noted that if an actor isn’t happy, then so many things can go wrong.
In a statement to Variety, president of the Costume Designers Guild Terry Gordon stressed that huge progress had been made for the guild, and called the contract the “most comprehensive and successful that our guild has achieved in decades.” This was further highlighted by the Oscars when host Jimmy Kimmel brought a “nude” John Cena on stage to announce the best costume design nominees. “He succinctly stated and cemented the importance of costumes to a global audience,” Gordon said.
However, Gordon reiterates that the work for total parity is not yet complete, and there is more work to be done. “We had to leave a few issues on the table and we are working now to present and correct those points at the next negotiation,” she said.
For now, the biggest win for costume designers isn’t just achieving pay parity — something they’ve spent years fighting for — but having the power to negotiate above the base. “What we have achieved is an equal base from which everyone can rise,” Gordon said. “Responsibility to negotiate above that base lies with each designer or their agent.”