Online Portfolio
Grace McEntee Costume
Hi there, I’m Grace. I'm an Irish costume maker based in South London. I specialise in historical and fantasy costumes, making use of structural undergarments, a variety of hand finishing and embellishment techniques and creative repurposing of materials.If you would like to get in touch or follow me on other platforms, you'll find the links at the bottom of this portfolio.
Love Wins
(in Post-Production)
Evulve Productions
Currently In post-production
The first of many collaborations with Evulve Productions, Love Wins is a short film celebrating 100 years of LGBTQ+ history in England. After conducting comprehensive research into each time period and sharing this with the cast, I designed and sourced 16 principal costumes and also organised costumes for crowd actors.
Cinderella
RVC Performing Arts Society
February 2025
I was commissioned by the Royal Veterinary College's Performing Arts Society to create this transforming dress for their production of Cinderella. A transforming dress had been a dream project of mine for a while, so I wasn't going to let a limited budget get in the way of making something magical!
To see a video of the transformation as well as some sketches and development, click the button below.
Hand Sewn 1915-16 Parisian Day Dress
Patterns of Fashion 2024 Entry
This recreation of a couture day dress was made for the 2024 'Patterns of Fashion' competition in my final year at Wimbledon. Plenty of intricate details are included, most notably over 15 metres of embroidered scallops, 11 metres of insertion stitching and 84 tiny pintucks. The buttons on the front panel were also crocheted by hand. It contains a deceptively large amount of fabric due to its many layers and required 43 skeins of embroidery floss to complete. I saw this dress as an opportunity to challenge both my skills and my patience. It certainly did, though it was a rewarding challenge in the end.
1859 Evening Gown
Final project
- Inspired by Franz Xaver Winterhalter's portrait of the Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna of Russia -For my final project at Wimbledon I chose to recreate this gown painted by one of my favourite artists, who I believe captured the grandeur of the Crinoline Era better than any other painter. This was a fantastic exercise in building a silhouette; beneath this dress is a cage crinoline, petticoat and corset which all had to be made before I could even think about creating the main garment. This was also my first foray into flower making, a practice which has largely fallen out of fashion since the Victorian era. Each flower was assembled from many satin petals and then painted by hand.
Costume Interpretation for The Tempest
This second year project gave me the chance to interpret Colleen Muscha's design for Miranda in the 1989 Utah Shakespeare Festival's production of The Tempest. For this I created a set of stays and a draped chiffon skirt and bodice, painted with dyes to achieve a watercolour effect.
Art Deco Tutu
Another second year project, this collaboration with our course's designers and a Tech Arts student saw us creating a tutu and matching mannequin head for the Strand Palace Hotel, inspired by its iconic art deco design elements. The finished tutu features hundreds of beads applied by hand, as well as many more hot fix crystals and delicately hand painted designs.
Costume for Howl's Moving Castle
This first year project required me to design several costumes for a reimagining of Howl's Moving Castle, producing one of them in full. This costume for Howl features a Victorian style corset, an upcycled blouse and a coat made entirely from flannel shirts. The final product of this was a short costume film which I directed and edited myself.
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Cinderella
The Transformation
The transforming element of this costume relied on magnets sewn into the 'rag dress'. The inner rag skirt was put on first with the poofs and apron hanging down, followed by the white dress on top, and then everything was tucked into the poofs and apron. For this crucial magic moment, Cinderella just had to pull the magnets down and give her best twirl with the help of her fairy godmother.I would love to do another version of this that allows me more time so I can put more care into the rag dress. This transformation did get an applause, however, so I think I can say I did my job well!
The Design
The director requested a white dress to fit the lyrics of this Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. We knew that there wouldn't be much time and money for embellishment, but a sparkly applique was requested which you can see here next to my sketches.
I knew I wanted a big, swirly skirt that would really flow during the dance sequences, as well as a fitted boned bodice to make the dress look like it was made just for Cinderella (which it was!). I played around with some swoopy sleeves here but ultimately decided they would be too difficult to hide.
I also knew I wanted the dress to have a basque waist to make it look extra princessy. Looking at this sketch, I think I wanted to bodice to be a separate piece on top at first. I'm guessing this was an idea I abandoned for the sake of quick changes.
The "big poofy rag dress" is a staple of Cinderella productions around the world. This was a simple cotton dress in earthy colours that I annoyingly didn't get any pictures of before giving it to the society. The patches were sourced from the mountain of scrap fabric I have in my workroom and the magnets were surprisingly easy to buy in ready-to-sew plastic covers.
Looking a bit less magical in my messy workroom, this is the last photo I got of the white dress before handing it over to the director.The skirt was my favourite part, made of one layer of satin and two layers of organza to give it an ethereal, translucent appearance. How I would love to repeat this with infinitely more layers! Each layer was cut as a double circle so it could really flare out when Cinderella twirls. This meant I had a LOT of hemming to do. With a bigger budget and more time I would have loved to have hand sewn this with a herringbone stitch, but this folded hem looked surprisingly neat onstage.
I initially made the bodice strapless, but after the fitting added some simple straps to account for movement. That ballroom scene would have been a good bit less romantic if the prince (and the audience) had gotten flashed! I also left all of the seam allowances finished and exposed so the society could easily have it altered to fit other actresses in the future, if needed.
Details AND dEVELOPMENT
Hand Sewn 1915-16 Parisian Day Dress
Details AND dEVELOPMENT
1859 Evening Gown
Details AND dEVELOPMENT
Costume Interpretation for The Tempest
Details AND dEVELOPMENT
Art Deco Tutu
Details AND dEVELOPMENT
Costume for Howl's Moving Castle
World Board
Character Board
Design
Love Wins
An Evulve Productions film
Written & Directed by Rosa Headley
Produced by Esme Michaela
Costume by Grace McEntee
Love Wins was my first independent project after finishing university, the beginning of a fantastic working relationship with Evulve Productions, and a total labour of love (no pun intended). Having over 20 period costumes to produce and a tiny budget to work with, I ended up restyling many items from my own wardrobe and those of the cast and crew.Although my main role on this production was Costume Designer, I wore many other proverbial hats. Behind the scenes analogue photography, poster photography and colour grading were all done by me!Keep scrolling to see more photos of costumes from this production, or click here to read more about the film on Evulve's website.
Scene 1: 1920's
Joy and heartbreak at an underground gay club are interrupted by a police raid.
Scene 2: 1940's
A young trans man wishes to enlist in the war, while a friend hopes his own femininity will keep him off the battlefield.
Scene 3: 1970's
A young woman answers calls at the newly-established London Gay Switchboard.
Scene 4: 1990's
Two friends are caught in a bombing attack.
Scene 5: 2020's
A group of queer friends celebrate Pride at an old English pub, the focal point for a century of LGBTQ+ history. They connect to a series of short stories from the past.
About Me
Hi! I'm Grace. I'm a recent graduate of the interpretation pathway of Wimbledon College of Arts' BA (Hons) in Costume for Theatre and Screen. In my work I like to focus on both history and fantasy, making use of distinctive silhouettes, carefully chosen fabrics and an array of hand finishing techniques. I'm originally from Ireland but am now based in South London.Before moving to London to focus on costume full-time I graduated with First Class Honours with a BA in Drama and Theatre Studies from Trinity College Dublin, where I also learned how to collaborate with directors, writers, set, prop and lighting designers and actors, and gained a greater understanding of their work.