About

Elise Turner is a costume designer and maker training at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London — one of the UK’s most prestigious conservatoires — where she is in the second of three years on the BA in Production Arts (Costume). She came to the course after a theatre education that began in Dripping Springs, Texas.

Her focus is costume — from historical research and pattern drafting to tailoring, millinery and sculptural, mixed-media construction. She works as readily in calico and silk as in book pages, duct tape, foam and paper mache, and moves easily between the design plate and the workroom.

For Elise, a costume is more than storytelling for the audience: it changes how a performer feels in the role. She designs with care and works with empathy, aiming to make the people she dresses feel seen, comfortable and confident.

Before Guildhall she was Head of Costumes at Dripping Springs High School and designed and built for Impact Arts’ summer productions. In 2025 her team won the Texas UIL State Championship in Theatrical Design, and in 2024 she was named her school’s Technician of the Year.

Guildhall School of Music & Drama