Bringing characters to life with costume design

My name is Sophie Canale and I'm a costume designer working in film and television. I studied costume at Bournemouth Arts Institute but grew up in Falmouth, Cornwall. I had always been creative and acted, so costume brought my passions together. I was fortunate enough to work in theatre and then moved into film and television. I’ve now worked in the industry for 17 years.

There is no typical day as a costume designer; every day is different and that's the beauty of the job and why I love it. At the start of filming, we have a period of prep lasting months or weeks.

During that time, I’ll create concepts and work with directors, production designers, and producers to assemble ideas of how the show will look. As casting develops and we’re introduced to the actors, my team and I fit their costumes. We develop each character and understand how we, as creatives, the producers and the actors themselves see their characters.

From there, we go into shooting. Each day we can be at different locations or studios filming different scenes, which aren't filmed consecutively. We might film the end before the beginning, but our amazing crew brings continuity by making sure the costumes work during a shoot.

When my agents sent me the scripts for Dope Girls, I read two episodes and was completely in love with the concept. I knew Shannon Murphy was directing, and I loved Babyteeth, so to be able to work with a director who has such an imagination and pushes boundaries was exciting. I interviewed, created mood boards and was fortunate enough to come on board. I worked closely with Shannon and Cherie, the production designer, and Annika, the director of photography (DP).

Dope Girls is very much a period drama, but we didn't want to be strict in our period correctness. The beauty of Dope Girls is you've got different worlds; the everyday world celebrating the end of the war, and the bohemian underground in Soho – a passionate underbelly of London. Often when you think of period dramas, you have your upper and lower class, but in Dope Girls there's a mix of people and that's nice to be able to get gritty with.

When I look at characters, I think about what music they’d listen to today and try to build a character. I like to understand what that person would be like. You can really grasp that in Dope Girls. I enjoyed designing for Billie. She had so many different creative dance pieces. She was my most bohemian, non-conventional character. The fabric choices are not period correct, but she was a part of this artistic world that would have been able to source different things. You've got to take it with a pinch of salt. It's not period correct, but it’s very playful. But the beauty of this job, and Dope Girls, is being able to design for so many different characters.

I've been very fortunate to work all over the world, but having the opportunity to work in Wales for the first time was great. I had a very strong Welsh crew on Dope Girls – people who lived in Wales – who were so supportive and extremely talented. 

If you work hard and have a passion, then you can do anything. I'm from a working-class family, from a comprehensive school in Penryn, Cornwall. Anyone can do anything if they have the drive, talent and surround themselves with people who believe in them. So, my advice to young creatives: tap into anything you possibly can, go to art exhibitions, watch films, watch television, be inspired and start creating.