Jennifer Anderson
Unearthing A Love For Costume

The discovery of your true passion is a major turning point in the circle of life.

Some people know from an early age what they want to do with the rest of their lives. Others wander many career paths before stumbling onto the one that makes them truly happy. Then there are those whose epiphany comes through a totally unexpected channel--a casual conversation, a college catalog that arrives in the mailbox by mistake, or a billboard advertisement passed on the freeway. For Jennifer Tiranti Anderson, her realization was unearthed along with scraps of fabric that had been buried deep in a Russian grave for 2,000 years.

Born into a creative home, Jennifer grew up exposed to the arts--especially theater, painting, and costuming. This early immersion into aesthetics shaped her first love: history. She wanted to be a museum curator or archeologist. Interwoven into the vein of her passion for history was her love of the theater and while in middle school, she translated that into acting.

As she says, "History was my first love. But always in the back of my heart lay theater." After high school, however, she decided to focus on a more traditional academic career. Jennifer worked hard and received her BA degree from U.C. Berkeley in Slavic Languages and Literature with an emphasis in Russian studies.

It's a fantastical picture to visualize what lay waiting to be excavated by Jennifer in Russia. After graduation, she set off to Russia on an excavation project of Nomadic burial grounds. As she helped to uncover Bronze Age and Early Iron Age graves, she discovered scraps of fabric that had miraculously survived the passage of 2,000 years and she became fascinated with how the fabric was dyed, woven, and decorated.

This ancient fabric set her creative mind on fire, and she began imagining the costumes it had originated from. When she returned to Berkeley, she was haunted by the Russian textiles. She immersed herself in researching this type of historical costume and began reconstructing them. Her beautiful reconstruction work was noticed by a costume shop proprietor who quickly referred her for a freelance design job. It was perfect and magical. She designed and created historically accurate medieval costumes for a professional performing equestrian troupe. With the success of that project, she was hooked completely on costume design and decided to pursue more formal training in costuming.

Thus her entree into FIDM, where she began the 3rd Year Theatre Costume Professional Designation program. While enrolled at FIDM, she interned at the prestigious Old Globe Theater in San Diego and The Center Theater Group in Los Angeles. Jennifer also worked as the set costumer on In Pursuit, an action film starring Claudia Schiffer and Daniel Baldwin.

Thanks to her 'Wardrobing for Film and Television' class, she was able to walk on the set and know exactly what she was doing. Not only was she familiar with wardrobing, she also knew proper set etiquette, each person's job description, and where she fit into the whole production picture. She received accolades from the film crew in the form of a letter of recommendation calling her the "best trained intern we've ever had." She's fully prepared to walk into another Hollywood job today with confidence thanks to her intensive studies.

Jennifer credits the costume history classes at FIDM with preparing her for exactly what a director is referring to when they ask for a specific style. Jennifer had a great experience at FIDM, and says the program was based on real-world knowledge and skills without repetitive information. She felt that each class had a clear purpose and delivered highly valuable and useful information.

Jennifer is influenced by the work of Julie Taymor, who directed and designed costumes for the acclaimed Broadway stage production of The Lion King. Taymor also produced/directed the recent film adaptation of Titus. Jennifer also loves to soak up the mood set by old movies and gets lots of historic inspiration from watching them.

Jennifer was featured in the FIDM Debut 2000 fashion show where she amazed the audience with her elaborate Mardi Gras-themed costumes. She utilized skills from her FIDM Costume Crafts classes for her wonderful Debut characters, the King of Mardi Gras and two of his attendants. She created wigs, a sun puppet, crown and armor for the king, and a spectacular cape, for which she custom-dyed 60 yards of lame' fabric.

What does the future hold for this heart-follower? Jennifer could have chosen to go directly into designing costumes after graduation from FIDM, but because she wanted to immerse herself in all aspects of theatre arts, she decided to continue her studies. She was accepted into the prestigious MFA Theatre program at U.C. San Diego where she will study the practical application of lighting, set, and costume design in a real theater setting. From there, Jennifer is open to new challenges--Broadway and Hollywood are both possible destinations. She hopes to work on operas and plays or maybe even take her talents to the extreme on a sci-fi movie.

Jennifer's dedication to her craft shines through in her gorgeous designs, and ignites the fire of inspiration in others. Her passionate advice to students pursuing theater costume design: 'Love the theater and be 100% hooked on it. You have to love both the creative and construction processes. You must be happy working very long hours because the big reward in this career is doing what you love.'

Please Note: The information contained herein was confirmed at the time of original publication