Who is Carly?
Carly Oshima is quiet but eloquent, dressed in textured layers and quirky accessories, including a surprising feather extension in her hair. Growing up in LA, Carly knew from an early age that she wanted to become a fashion designer, but what sets this soft-spoken sophomore apart from the other art school designers is her passion for costume design. Her creativity and attention to detail lend themselves well to fine-tuning costumes. When she isn’t stenciling or draping costumes in the costume shop, Carly can be found shopping and hanging out with friends. She’s bound for Paris and Burgundy, France this summer to take part in the Performing Arts Department Made in France program.
// CONNECT
Want to connect with Carly? E-mail her at carlyo@wustl.edu
// INTERVIEW
Kuumba.tv: What first sparked your interest in costume design?
Carly: Ever since I was little I’ve dreamt of being a fashion designer, so when I got accepted to Wash U I was able to do work study and choose where I wanted to work, and I saw I could work in the costume shop and figured it was close to fashion and tried that, and I have been working there since freshman year… Over the past couple of years at Wash U I have grown to love costume design as much as fashion design.
Kuumba.tv: What is your favorite show that you have designed the costumes for?
Carly: I’m most excited for this upcoming show that I’m the lead costume designer for, The Stroke Scriptures. For this next play, I get to go and choose all of the costumes and have fittings with all of the actors and it’s exciting. It’s a really fun process…
Kuumba.tv: What are your inspirations when you are shopping/designing for The
Stroke Scriptures?
Carly: It’s all set in modern day, so I’m not building costumes for it, but I will be shopping and picking out the clothes. I’ve been working on it for the past couple of weeks with getting all of the costumes together. I try to consider color or patterns and all of the different aspects of the wardrobe and how everything will look and come together in the end; to make sure it all flows within each scene and overall to make sure it looks good. I try to think about each scene individually and how each character interacts. And also thinking about each character’s personalities and how the play portrays them; which colors will help convey their character.
Kuumba.tv: What is it like to see the costumes you have designed in a play?
Carly: It’s really cool and exciting to see how the costumes I’ve made actually look on stage rather than on the mannequin or wherever I’m building it. It’s a whole different experience and it’s exciting to see how they look in the big picture.
Kuumba.tv: What are your future goals, where do you see yourself going with design?
Carly: I have always dreamt of being a fashion designer and having my own line, but now that I’m also interested in costume design I could see myself possibly doing something in that field. I think it would also be cool to design the costumes for a movie or TV show. And now every time I watch movies or TV I analyze the costumes and think about what I would have done, so I could definitely see myself in that field as well.
Collaborators: Siena Baldi, Kathleen Heist, Jessie Kritt