What to Expect at a Costume Fitting (and How to Prepare)

The email says “Costume fitting, Thursday, 2:00, wardrobe.” That’s it. No dress code, no length, no hint of what happens behind the door. You booked the part, you’ve been learning lines for a week, and now you’re wondering whether you’re supposed to shave, what underwear counts as appropriate, and whether it’s rude to say a waistband hurts.

Every actor has a first fitting. When one goes badly, it’s often for small, avoidable reasons: an out-of-date size, the wrong undergarments, or a problem the actor noticed and didn’t mention until tech week.

The short version: a fitting is a working session with the costume team, not an inspection. Arrive on time in clean, simple, fitted underlayers with your real sizes. Tell them early about anything the costume has to survive, from a fight to a quick change. Move in it properly. Say what you notice, kindly and specifically, then let the designer decide. And use the fitting to learn something about your character.

Who’s in the room, and what they’re doing

On a film or TV job, you’ll often meet the costume designer and at least one assistant. Actor Katerina Eichenberger and designer Sylvia Fuhrken, describing a fitting in their newsletter, describe the roles: the designer leads and decides when a look is final, and an assistant helps you in and out of each piece. Clothes are laid out in order, inner to outer, with a full-length mirror and good light.

In theater there may be more people in the room, such as a draper who builds the garments. The University of Washington’s costume fitting guidelines are a good window into how a well-run shop prepares: the sketch and research pinned to the wall, garments tagged with your name and character, shoes out of their boxes, and the right undergarments laid out for you.

Those guidelines also show the shop’s side of privacy. You change in private and wear skin layers. If the door is closed for modesty, at least three people should be in the room. Knowing that’s the standard in a careful shop makes it easier to notice, and ask, if something feels off.

What to wear and what to bring

Wear what makes the costume team’s job easy. That means clean, simple, fitted skin-tone layers, and clothes you can get out of quickly. Eichenberger’s list is short and practical: clean clothes, clean undergarments, clothes that come on and off easily, and a good attitude.

• Your current, honest measurements and sizes. Chicago costume designer Lizzie Cook, quoted in a guide by commercial director Matt Miller for Acting Studio Chicago, warns that an inaccurate size sheet can “bring everything to an immediate halt.”
• The shoes you’ll perform in, if you’ve been asked to supply them, or the closest thing you own.
• The undergarments the role needs, if you were told. If you weren’t, ask the stage manager or wardrobe before the day.
• A short note of anything wardrobe should know: allergies to fabrics or dyes, an injury, a tattoo or piercing that may need covering.
• Water, and nothing that stains. Fittings can run long.

For a commercial, you may also be asked to bring options from your own closet. Cook’s advice there is to bring a small variety of anything that might work, even if it’s just one pair of pants that fits you well.

Tell them what the costume has to survive

A costume that looks perfect standing still can fail the first time you sit, kneel, or fight in it. The costume team can only plan for what they know about, and they don’t always know your blocking.

The UW guidelines tell designers to ask actors to do their most extreme movements in the fitting, to confirm the clothes can take it, and to talk through any quick changes. If nobody asks, offer. Say “In Act Two I’m on the floor for most of a scene,” or “I have a twelve-second change into this.”

Then actually do it. Sit the way your character sits. Lunge, kneel, raise your arms over your head, climb an imaginary step. If you have a fight, a dance, or a fall, do the biggest move at half speed. It’s much better to split a seam today than in the second preview.

Bring your lines, too

If the costume includes a hat, a collar, a corset, or a mask, say a few lines in it. A high collar can change how you turn your head, and a tight bodice changes where your breath goes. If you have a long speech, try the first few lines at full voice. Our guide to breath control for long speeches explains why a costume that limits your ribs matters.

How to raise a problem without insulting anyone

You will sometimes put on something and dislike it. That’s normal, and it’s not always a problem. Designers dress the character, not you, and something that looks wrong in a fitting-room mirror can look exactly right under stage lights or on camera. Miller’s guide warns actors off “I’d never wear that.”

Other things are real problems, and you should say them. Pain, a fastening you can’t work in the dark, a shoe you can’t run in, a hem you’ll trip on, or anything that makes you feel unsafe. The trick is to describe the problem, not the solution.

• Say “When I kneel, the waistband cuts into me,” not “Can I have different trousers?”
• Say “I can’t reach this zip on my own, and I’m alone in the wings for that change,” not “Can we lose the zip?”
• Say “I feel exposed in this when I bend forward,” not “Can I wear something else?”

Eichenberger’s advice is to raise concerns with kindness and respect for the costume team’s work. Fuhrken, from the designer’s side, says designers avoid talking about an actor’s body and frame their notes around the character and the color story. If a fitting ever makes you uncomfortable, you’re allowed to say so, and to tell your stage manager or agent.

For union screen work, SAG-AFTRA members, the Costume Designers Guild, and Motion Picture Costumers IATSE Local 705 produced fitting room best practices together. SAG-AFTRA’s page Collaboration Is Key in the Fitting Room describes them, including a conversation before the fitting about things like pronouns and access needs. It’s worth reading before your first union fitting.

Let the clothes tell you something about the character

The fitting isn’t only wardrobe’s work. It’s one of the best character-research sessions you’ll get. In Act I of Hamlet, Polonius sends his son off to France with a list of advice, and part of it is about clothes:

POLONIUS: Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,

William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, Scene 3

He’s right, and the designer has already thought about what your apparel proclaims. Ask them. “What does she spend money on?” “Is this new, or has he worn it for years?” “Does she dress for herself or for other people?” Designers usually have answers, and those answers can change how you stand, sit, and walk.

Then notice what the clothes do to you. Heavy fabric slows you down. A stiff collar lifts your chin. Heels change your walk. Our guides to finding a character’s walk and acting in a period piece go further on turning those discoveries into the performance.

Photos, timing, and the fittings that come next

Expect photos. On screen jobs, fitting photos go to the director and producers for approval. Miller’s guide says they go into a pre-production book, and he warns against a bored, detached look, which makes for flat pictures. Eichenberger’s advice is the same: smile and bring some life to the picture.

Expect waiting, too. Fittings can run long, and schedules move. Bring your script. If you’ve rehearsed your scenes in Offbook, you can listen to them on your phone while you wait for your turn, with your own lines spoken, skipped, or left as silent gaps for you to fill in your head.

In theater, there is often more than one fitting. Use the later ones to report anything you discovered in rehearsal, like a sleeve that catches on a prop. Our guide to tech week covers the dress rehearsals where it all comes together.

Do you get paid for a fitting?

On many union contracts, yes, and the rules depend on the contract. For example, under the SAG-AFTRA commercials contract, according to a CMS Productions summary, a fitting on the same day as work counts as work time, and a fitting on an earlier day is paid for at least one hour, with additional time in 15-minute increments.

Other contracts, including film, TV, background, and Equity stage contracts, have their own rules on fittings. The numbers change between contract versions, so check with your agent, your union’s business representative, or the stage manager rather than relying on what someone told you on set.

Non-union work varies. If you’re unsure whether a fitting is paid, ask politely when it’s scheduled. Our guide to Equity and non-Equity theater explains what you can expect in each.

A fitting-day checklist

• The day before, confirm the time and place, and ask what undergarments or shoes to bring if nobody has said.
• Write down your current measurements and sizes, and check they’re honest.
• Note any blocking that’s hard on clothes: kneeling, lying down, fights, lifts, quick changes.
• Wear clean, simple, fitted underlayers and clothes that come off quickly.
• Arrive on time, with water and your script.
• In each piece, move like your character, do your biggest move, and say a few lines.
• Describe any problem, kindly and specifically, and let the designer decide.
• Ask one question about what the clothes say about your character.

Questions actors ask

What should I wear to a costume fitting?

Clean, simple, fitted skin-tone layers, and clothes you can take off quickly. Bring the shoes and undergarments you’ve been asked for, and your current sizes.

How long does a costume fitting take?

It varies with the number of costumes and how finished they are. Some are quick; others run long. Leave extra time after it, and bring water and your script.

Can I refuse a costume?

You can’t usually veto the look: the designer dresses the character, and the call on the look is theirs. But you should raise anything that hurts, isn’t safe, or that you can’t perform in, so the costume team can work on a fix.

Do actors get paid for costume fittings?

On many union contracts, yes, under rules that depend on the contract. Under the SAG-AFTRA commercials contract, a fitting on an earlier day than work is paid for at least an hour. On non-union work, ask when the fitting is scheduled.