Sarah Burren
HI! And welcome to my site! I really wanted you to be engaged and inspired to check out the myriad of weird and wonderful, crazy and not so crazy costumes and more I have designed and delivered since the 1980s! A visual feast that brings you the WOW factor!
They’re not all here, but I can promise you the majority are. Whilst I write alone, I am not alone, in the execution and delivery of many of these costumes. And, of course, without performers, actors, dancers, aerialists, models, puppeteers, magicians, a whole lot more of highly skilled sculptors, cutters, makers, hair and makeup artists, technical whizzes, and an audience none of this would happen! However, everything starts with an idea and a vision – that’s where I come in and can work with you!
Having an overwhelming desire to collaborate, create, and most of all deliver artistic excellence whilst entertaining through characterisation and costumes: I have imagined, designed, constructed and managed the outcome of every single one of them from head to toe through Little Green Man Productions!
Please step into a world of sublime characters and creatures, and be transported into another realm. They should be memorable for their beauty, grace, humour, colour, characterisation, engagement, originality and innovation and for being outrageously over the top! And they should sell your product.
Costume design has been a global experience. I worked at the BBC costume workroom for two years after graduation from the London College of Fashion 1983. The BBC gave me a sabbatical, as an emergent artist questing afar to research and collect images and techniques. On the smell of an oily piece of silk, I went to Asia, taking 100’s of photos for a costume book, only to realise it would take 25 years and serious funding to execute! I visited many places throughout Thailand, Batik Factories in Singapore, Hong Kong and Chinese Opera, and ended up in mainland China in my pink shoes, dungarees and ponytail at the age of 22.
London and Toronto were the main cities I lived in from 1980-1995. There were stints in Europe, primarily France, and in North America, New York, Boston, Montreal and Ottawa. I worked on a project with John Cox’s creature work shop on the Gold Coast, Australia in 1999 and costumed characters for a one night event in Houston, Texas in 2009 that raised $2m for a wing on a childrens hospital. I have made couture garments for a range of celebrities, including Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson in the mid 1980’s when I was working for Anouska Hempel’s design studio. At that time they (Diana and Sarah) had the same waist measurement of 28 inches! I loved making Basil Brushes morning attire at the BBC and was fortunate to absorb and master so many skills by learning from those around me at the White City workroom. Television Commercials followed, and great opportunities in and around London Theatres.
Canada beckoned with the invitation from a Toronto Based Costume Designer. I worked on various films and TV shows, however, the world of theatre and live action events was where I could really break into being a freelance creative and work across Film, Theatre, Fashion, Events and Television designing, cutting, making and producing new concepts like Fashion Fanatics – a marketplace for emergent designers to sell their wares and put on a show and cultural entertainment while people were shopping!
I’m now based in Auckland, New Zealand and work on multiple projects, at various locations or from The Little Green Man Productions Studio.
I wanted the site to be raw and honest with the multiple layers that go into creating a costume or multiple costumes. The design – whether an original concept or a collaboration with a brief, the execution of construction, from fabric selection and cutting to fittings and the sheer volume of research and development that goes into creating one of, or a collection, or full cast, is intense. Therefore, I am exposing all sorts of stages, both in sketch format, and image documentation. People always ask me – how do you do this, where do you start?! From the best nation in the world – called Imagi! This category has INDY KIDS development with Flux Animation, showing the extent and dedication required to bring a series to fruition. INDY KIDS has been to Mip.com twice and been morphed and changed to suit different markets and is back at stage one, for the time being!