Costume Design

Types of Degrees Costume Design Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many costume design graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Basic Certificate	14
Master’s Degree	8
Bachelor’s Degree	8
Associate Degree	1

What Costume Design Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to costume design were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Costume Design Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

Skills for Costume Design Majors

When studying costume design, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
• Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Abilities for Costume Design Majors

Costume Design majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.

What Can You Do With a Costume Design Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with costume design:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Art, Drama, and Music Professors	12.0%	$69,960
Fashion Designers	2.5%	$72,720

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Costume Design?

This major is dominated by women with about 75% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of costume design majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	0
Black or African American	0
Hispanic or Latino	0
White	6
International Students	2
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Costume Design. About 25.0% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Costume Design

Some careers associated with costume design require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to costume design have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	0.4%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	1.1%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	0.3%
Some College Courses	8.1%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	12.6%
Bachelor’s Degree	17.2%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	0.5%
Master’s Degree	34.6%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	1.1%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	2.9%
Doctoral Degree	21.6%

Online Costume Design Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	2	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	1	0
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	3	1
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Costume Design

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to costume design.

Major	Number of Grads
Theater Arts	10,917
Acting	1,791
Musical Theater	1,247
Theater Design & Technology	1,139
Playwriting & Screenwriting	851
Other Dramatic/Theatre Arts & Stagecraft	465
Directing & Theatrical Production	220
Theatre and Dance	111
Comedy Writing and Performance	44
Theatre Literature, History & Criticism	37

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By Donald Judge under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.