‘Perseverance, Creativity, And Doing What You Love’: This Maltese Student Chased Her Costume Designing Dream
From a very young age, Michela Manduca, a recently graduated costume designer, has had theatre and performance arts close to her heart.
Now, she’s finally gotten as close to her dreams as she ever was and is currently working as a wardrobe store assistant at LIPA, the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.
“If I could go back and tell little Michela that perseverance, creativity, and doing what I love would get me this far, it would have saved me much worrying. I hope that other young creatives can read this and feel like they can do it too!” Michela told Lovin Malta.
It all started when Michela was 15 years old when she realised that her favourite part of every performance was learning about the costumes.
She used to love participating in fittings, dress rehearsals, and the shows themselves – basically any part of the process that is related to the costumes.
After her O’Levels, she started looking at courses related to costume design, imagining what her future could look like in the field.
However, after completing her post-secondary education, she realised she would not be able to afford an international course in the area.
“My ambitious nature did not allow me to leave it at that; upon finishing my O’ Levels, I spent all my time before sixth form altering Burda magazine patterns, which are ready-made sewing patterns that also instruct sewists on how to construct garments, to sew my dress, with much help from my very patient nanna!”
“At sixth form, I continued performing and when I had the time I would go to my grandmother to continue learning from her, and then went to the University of Malta and read for my Bachelor in Digital arts.”
“Fortunately, this course gave us a lot of freedom to focus on the artistic fields we were passionate about, so I took every opportunity I could to make sure my assignments were related to costume design and making.”
“During this period I got the chance to go on Erasmus to Bradford College and spend a term learning about fashion and textiles – I was in my element!”
“Upon returning back to Malta, my performance art friends, designers, and directors started getting in touch to see if I could assist/design/make costumes for them. So, while finishing my course, I was working part-time to save money, while also working on costume jobs.”
“I soon realised that my desire to leave the country and learn more about the costume industry and more specifically the making of costumes kept growing and I started applying for costume courses.”
Fortunately, Michela was accepted for a Master’s in costume making at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.
“The Malta Arts Funding meant that the process was not overwhelming because they really helped out with the fees!” she said.
“Living in Liverpool and spending so many hours surrounded by artists both at LIPA and in the city has been such an inspiring adventure.”
“It also gave me the time to learn how to make costumes I would have never dreamt I would have the ability to make and work with other students on their productions too.”
“Fortunately, I have had many costume-related opportunities since arriving here. Over the summer I got to work with the amazing Emily Rose Spreadborough, Marina Diamantidi, and on the film set of the Family Pile with Joanne Thompson.”
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