ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AMIDEI OF THE COSTUME DESIGN DEPARTMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY NORTH CAROLINA IN CHARLOTTE CONTINUES HER 2021 GRANT AWARD PROJECT. She spent the bulk of last year researching adaptive costuming and fashion techniques that she could use for the creation of the garments to be worn by actors and actresses that have disabilities. This time was available owing to the endemic/Covid and she was able to gather data and a better understanding of a co-design process in order to ensure that she could make the most of the time spent with participants to create costumes that are both beautiful and functional for the wearers.
The research done in support of her grant has already enabled her to share this work with a larger audience. Prof. Amidei will present her research on adaptive costume techniques at an academic conference this year attended by fashion and costume researchers and educators. It is her hope that by sharing this information, there will be an inclusive ripple effect for people with disabilities in the performing arts. She is already teaching these methods that she has learned over the summer to her own students in the theatre program at UNC-Charlotte and applying it to my professional design practice in Chicago and beyond.
