ABSTRACT
If anything is important to middle schoolers today, it is their appearance. The clothes they choose to wear communicate their fashion sense (or perhaps lack thereof) as well as their identity. And the media is certainly one of the major influences on what they decide to purchase and wear. The Common Core standards for Embrace Media Literacy (ELA) remind students to consider both the techniques used in filmmaking as well as the choices made by directors and actors. Costumes certainly fall within these areas. Drama and theater teachers, as well as their students, must certainly study costumes. As Oscar-winning director/producer Martin Scorsese says, in many movies "costume is character." Costume designers for motion pictures say it is the clothes that help not only tell the story, but also communicate the setting and bring a character to life.
