Glossary
Costume Attendant Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential costume attendant terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key costume attendant vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in costume attendant training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Continuity
- Consistent look across shots.
- Distressing
- Aging costumes.
- Dresser
- Helps actors change.
- Fitting
- Trying on and adjusting.
- Hem
- Bottom edge.
- IATSE
- Stagehands union.
- Load-in
- Moving into a theater.
- Plot
- List of changes.
- Preset
- Costumes placed ahead.
- Quick change
- Fast costume change.
- Rig
- Hidden fasteners for changes.
- Running crew
- Backstage team.
- Steamer
- Removes wrinkles.
- Swatch
- Fabric sample.
- Wardrobe bible
- Costume records.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Costume Attendant practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Costume Attendant training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.