Biography

Susan Marshall is a costume designer, adjunct professor of Twentieth Century Fashion at FIT in Milan, Politecnico di Milano and lecturer in costume design at AFOL Moda Milan. Insubordinate Costume is based on her doctoral research at Goldsmiths University of London, which explored the pivotal role of costume in performance and the fundamental importance of play in the performers’ creative approach to the costumes.

routledge.com/Insubordinate-Costume-Inspiring-Performance/Marshall/p/book/9781032375977

A non-verbal production of Alice in Wonderland developed from workshops with Danish actress and dancer Tilde Knudsen of Asterions Hus, a Danish physical and experimental theatre company. The production has been performed both online and in venues across Europe. It will be performed in India in January 2025.

I first developed the idea of using modular costume pieces during my doctoral research into Insubordinate Costume. It was necessary to find a way to resolve specific practical prerequisites as the costumes needed to be lightweight and easily transportable while still retaining their three-dimensional nature. In response, I looked to origami techniques and modular structures more typical in architecture, industrial design or children’s toys such as building bricks, Lego, Meccano, Stickle Bricks and GeoMag as possible solutions to the problem and the idea of flat-pack modular costumes evolved. The modules in se are completely neutral and can be used in innumerable ways to create representational or abstract forms and, as such, are versatile, enabling multifaceted, creative interpretations and offering numerous dramaturgical possibilities. Recycling and upcycling are fundamental aspects of my design ethos and the modules fulfil this criterion in a playful and creative way.