If the costume designer says the lead needs a vintage leather jacket in three identical copies by Thursday, the costume supervisor is the person who finds out whether the rental house has three, what they cost, whether the budget can take it, and who picks them up. Most of the job is operations: money, people, and inventory.
Setting up the department in prep
The supervisor usually starts shortly after the designer. First comes the space: a wardrobe room or trailer, racks, a washer and dryer, a fitting room with mirrors and good light, and a workroom if the show is building or altering. Then the crew. The supervisor hires costumers with the designer's input, schedules them for prep, and sets up start paperwork with the production office.
With the designer's breakdown in hand, the supervisor builds the department's working tools. The costume budget, split into purchases, rentals, manufacturing, cleaning, and labor, gets checked against the line producer's number. A master costume list by character and change becomes the backbone of the continuity book. Fitting schedules go to the production coordinator, who books actors.
A realistic breakdown of one week of costume spending for a lead cast of six:
| Category | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Purchases (contemporary clothes, shoes, accessories) | $4,800 |
| Costume house rentals (period coats, 4 weeks) | $2,200 |
| Alterations and tailoring | $1,100 |
| Cleaning and dry cleaning | $450 |
| Expendables (tape, steamer water, safety pins, labels) | $300 |
| Total | $8,850 |
The figures are for a fictional show and aren't a price guide. The categories are the useful part, because that's how the production accountant will want to see costume spending on a cost report.
Fittings and the continuity book
For every fitting, the supervisor or a costumer prepares the rack, labels the options, and takes photos of what the designer approves. Those photos go into the continuity book: a page per character per change, listing every piece down to jewelry and which way a scarf is tied, with notes on alterations and multiples. On set, costumers use the book to dress actors the same way three weeks later for a scene that cuts right next to one shot on day two.
Running the set side
Once shooting starts, the supervisor oversees costumes on set, often with a key costumer and set costumers doing the hands-on work. A shooting day with a 6:00 AM call:
- 5:00 AM: Costume trailer opens. Today's changes are pulled and hung by actor and scene.
- 5:30 AM: Principal actors dressed after hair and makeup, checked against continuity photos.
- 6:15 AM: Background actors dressed from racks. The supervisor approves anything off the approved looks.
- 9:00 AM: Designer arrives to see a new change on set before the first shot.
- 12:00 PM: Supervisor processes receipts and rental returns during lunch.
- 3:00 PM: A stunt shot ruins the hero jacket. Supervisor pulls the second copy and logs the damage.
- 7:30 PM: After wrap, costumes are checked in, laundry sorted, and tomorrow's changes staged.
The supervisor also watches continuity with the script supervisor and hair and makeup. If an actor's sleeve is rolled in the wide, it has to be rolled in the close-up.
Kits, boxes, and rentals
Costume supervisors and costumers often charge a weekly kit rental for their own sewing kit, steamer, irons, fashion tape, and set bag supplies. It's written into the deal memo with an inventory and paid separately from wages. The supervisor collects and submits the department's kit rental paperwork. The costume designer may have a separate box rental. Rentals from costume houses are different: they go through purchase orders and rental agreements, and the supervisor tracks every return date, since late returns cost money.
Union structure
In Hollywood, costume supervisors are members of Motion Picture Costumers, IATSE Local 705, while designers belong to the Costume Designers Guild, Local 892. Local 705's FAQ says its contracts require anyone who works 30 days or more on union productions in Los Angeles to join, and that new members are placed in the classification they had been working in. The FAQ also notes that members may not work as "Custom Made Costumers" and "Finished Costumers" interchangeably under most of its contracts, which matters when a supervisor staffs a workroom. Local 705 is one of the locals that uses the Contract Services Industry Experience Roster. In New York, wardrobe crews are represented by IATSE Local 764.
Local 705's minimum rates are set in its wage schedules under the IATSE Basic Agreement. Ask the local or the production's payroll company for the current figures.
Moving up
Supervisors typically start as costumers, then key costumers or set supervisors, then supervisors on smaller shows. Some move on to design; the CDG has a specific membership path for former Local 705 supervisors with documentation and three recommendation letters.
Storiara in the costume office
Storiara's Assets module lists wardrobe items pulled from the script, and each item can take photos, availability, and cost fields. The print option produces a list the supervisor can use as a starting point for the continuity book. See the wardrobe breakdown template for a column layout.