Steph was born in Dublin in 1990 and grew up in Glen of the Downs, County Wicklow. She has two younger brothers, and her parents work in insurance. Stephanie talks about her parents’ mixed marriage (Presbyterian-Catholic), her extended family’s attendance at various different churches and her parents’ attitude to religion which she felt appreciated the teaching of good ‘values’ rather than those of specific churches. Stephanie suggests that the two sides of her family can be differentiated between based on rural and urban differences rather than ones of religion.

Steph also discusses her experience attending international school, changes in friendships and social circles as a teenager and her first experience of a romantic relationship. Stephanie shares the frustration she felt with her school’s teaching style and that she felt bored with education towards the end of her secondary school studies.

Steph discusses her further education, beginning with a Drama and French degree at Trinity College Dublin which she enjoyed both academically and socially and which allowed her to explore her interest in costume design. Stephanie shares that she continued her education on a practical sewing and design course at Inchicore College. Afterwards, she began work as a freelance costume designer in London, returning to education to complete an MA in the History of Design at the Royal College of Art and Victoria and Albert Museum, before resuming her freelance career as a costume designer for television and film.

Steph talks about her way into professional costume design through the course at Inchicore College…

“My mum came across this course in Inchicore, which is— it's actually called a FETAC [Further Education and Training Awards Council] course. So, it's not a degree course. It's like a diploma course. And so, it's— I think the qualification is, like, slightly above what the Leaving Cert is, but it's— yeah, it's not at a degree level. But she came across this course anyway and I was looking into it and it was, you know, offering to teach making and pattern drafting and art and design and costume history and theatre history and hair and makeup. And it just— And because it was a diploma course, presumably, it was very affordable. I think it was, like, €500 per year for all— like, for all of this, and just compared to any of the other courses that I was looking at. And because I was very aware that I didn't feel like— I didn't necessarily feel confident that, like, my portfolio as such was up to the standard that, like, say, the likes of RADA [Royal Academy of Dramatic Art] or Central School in London or, like, Edinburgh College of Art— that, like, any of those Master’s courses were looking for in terms of portfolio. Like, the word ‘portfolio’, really just, like— it sounded really scary to me. So initially, I actually— I applied to Inchicore with the thought that, like, ‘oh, well, I'll do the first year’ and then I'll— like, through doing that, I'll have built up something of a portfolio and I can use that and apply to one of these other courses. And so, I was also quite nervous about the idea of learning making. I was like, ‘oh, I don't know what kind of standard—’So I ended up doing— Between my finishing Trinity and starting that at Inchicore, I ended up doing a course at the Grafton Academy, which is a fashion design school in Dublin. And so, I ended up doing a dressmaking course with them through the summer. As it turns out, [laughs] I didn't need to because with Inchicore, we literally— it didn't matter how much of a skill level, because there was a real wide variety. There was a few women there who'd been dressmaking for years, and there was some of us who'd never touched a sewing machine— some people who'd never touched a sewing machine in their lives. So, their approach was to just start at the beginning. And no matter what your skill was, and just work from there. And like, ‘this is how you do straight stitch, this is how you do this seam, this is how you do that,’ which was really good, I think, because obviously, like, especially if you're self–taught with sewing, you might have bad habits or, like, maybe you do things, and some you're like, ‘oh, this is a much easier way of—.’ So yeah, I think, yeah, I ended up applying for that and let the MA, the History of Design MA drop. And I was like, ‘right okay, this is what I'll do.’ So, I applied for that and I went for the interview and I got in and, as I said, I did the Grafton course and then got into Inchicore. And then, I think once I was there, I just— I loved it so much.”

For more information on accessing Steph’s full interview or transcript please email faisneis@unaganaguna.org