Trayce Gigi Field noted, “There’d be a huge movie and the costumes would be on display and they would just say worn by so-and-so, and the costume designer would not be listed.” Because the costume designers are pay-for-hire, unless their individual contract specifies it, they do not receive royalties or any profits from commercially sold sewing patterns or costumes based on their designs. They are also largely overlooked by the press as well.
Even their awards ceremony, which occurred this year on February 21st, goes by with barely a mention in the news, although the fashions by these influencers were posted on Instagram. The pink that last year became associated with Barbie was everywhere because many attendees addressed the #PayEquityNow campaign in their evening wear. The current contract Costume Designers Guild has with the AMPTP expires in July. Costume designers are the lowest paid creative department heads in film and television, nearly 30% less per week than other majority-male creative department heads and often less than the assistants of those same positions.
The last negotiations were during a time when the movie and television industry and the country were just coming out of COVID-19 restrictions. It wasn’t the time to push when the industry was just feeling its way back to the new normal.
CDG president Terry Gordon acknowledges that “we came to the table very late.” The CDG (Local 892) was first organized in 1953 and is a union of professional costume designers, assistant costume designers, and costume illustrators working in film, television, commercials, and other media, and is a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) with over 1,200 members. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was founded in 1933 while the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) was founded soon after in 1937. In 2012, the members of both organizations voted to merge and form SAG-AGTRA.
Yet Gordon noted, “We are 90% of the screen” and the costumes have cultural impact. “I mean, you still remember Scarlett O’Hara’s green velvet gown that was in ‘Gone with the Wind’ and Morticia Addams and her slinky black mermaid gown.” Unlike the Writers Guild of America West, the Directors Guild of America, or SAG, CDG Local 892 comes together with 12 other sister locals to negotiate a unified contract.
Gordon has a special connection with SAG-AGTRA president Fran Drescher, who became president in 2021, replacing Gabrielle Carteris (2016–2021). Gordon was the costume designer for Drescher’s “The Nanny” (1996–1999), for which she received three Primetime Emmy nominations (Outstanding Costuming for a Series, 1997–1999, shared with Shawn Holly Cookson) and the costume supervisor for Drescher’s “Happily Divorced” (2011–2012). You’ve probably seen her work on the 2020 “The Queen’s Gambit” or the reboot of “One Day at a Time” (2017–2020) where she was the key costumer. She recently retired from her position as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California, but continues working with Reba McEntire, for whom she has designed for over 20 years.