Stratford costume designer on working with Pixie Lott and seeing her designs at the World Cup

THEATRES, luxury brands and pop stars – Sophie Brassington, a costume designer from Alveston, has put her talents to work in a variety of arenas.

And it all started on a school trip to see an RSC production of Henry VI. It was on that trip to Stratford that Sophie fell in love with costume design.

Since then, her designs have made their way across the world, including the World Cup in Qatar.

It’s a passion that was nurtured at home, as Sophie told the Herald: “I was always very creative since I was really little. My grandmother taught me to sew, and I’ve always loved mak-ing clothes and things like that.”

Her ambitions were clear at school, too. “I was always in the art department… My maths teacher used to say that I didn’t have to do any of the homework because it wouldn’t be necessary to my life,” Sophie said.

This dedication continued in her costume design studies at Leeds University.

After moving to Alveston from Cheshire in 2010, Sophie worked at the RSC for a decade as a costumier, where she honed her skills while specialising in Elizabethan costumes. She’s now working as a freelancer,
and her commissions have only become bigger and bigger.

Last year, she worked with an eclectic range of clients including Dior, Aperol, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Papa Johns. Despite this, though, she’s stayed local, commuting to London when necessary. “This
is where my heart is,” she said.

Freelancing, for Sophie, is an opportunity to have complete artistic control, with enough funding to bring her visions to life.

She explained: “I mainly work now with large advertising companies and in large scale productions and events. They also have large budgets, and I’m given freedom just to make amazing costumes. I love being freelance, and
every day is different.”

She’s involved with every part of the costume creation process, designing and crafting the outfits herself in her home workshop. As a result, her job is intense but rewarding.

“There doesn’t tend to be a huge lead time with a lot of the projects that I get. There’s a lot of middle of the night working, a lot of juggling. But I also think that the best things come together last minute,” she said.

Asked what her favourite part of the job is, Sophie added: “I’ve always been obsessed with period costumes, so it’s obviously good to be able to work with that every day. But also, there’s all the different people that I
meet. I’m getting to work with some quite big names at the moment, which is quite exciting.”

One of those big names is pop star Pixie Lott, whom she called “the loveliest person to work with”. Aperol commissioned a Halloween costume for the singer, who wore it to Annabel’s, a private members’ club in Mayfair, London.

It’s a stunning outfit, and it received well-deserved words of praise from the Daily Mail, the Mirror and the BBC. “It was an amazing one to make,” she said, suggesting that it was “probably my favourite”.

She also paid tribute to legendary fashion designer Alexander McQueen, her “lifelong design hero”, saying: “His work is absolutely incredible. He’s always been a big inspiration of mine.”

Where has Sophie set her sights next? “I’d like to do a bit more film work. Maybe high-end period drama or something like that would be really good,” she said, although she conceded that she would have to sacrifice hands-on involvement with the costume creation process and stick to design.

“I think my children would absolutely love it if I made it to Taylor Swift one day,” she added. Well, never say never – she’s already got her foot in the door of the music industry, having worked for Brit Award-winning rapper Aitch.

Despite a deluge of NDAs (non-disclosure agreements are a familiar requirement in her line of work), Sophie was able to give us a hint at future projects to keep an eye out for. She’s currently working on costumes for Halloween Haunt Fest in Hertfordshire and a music video.

Anyone interested in seeing more of Sophie’s work, can visit can browse her Instagram or visit www.thedelegatewranglers.com/sophie-brassington-costume.