Cosette is a Canadian-born Set and Costume Designer for live performance and screen graduated from The National Institute of Dramatic Arts in 2023 - now living in Brussels, Belgium.
Before starting her studies at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, Australia, she pursued her love of cinema and studied film at the University of Sydney for two years during which she was Assistant Set Designer on Drab Majesty’s music video Noise of the Void, directed by Jai Love, and Set and Costume designer for Opera Australia's Imogen-Faith Malfitano’s music video featuring the aria Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante from Bizet's Carmen. During her studies at NIDA, Cosette was mentored by renowned designers including Bob Cousins, Stephen Curtis and Jennifer Irwin - her NIDA design credits include: Costume Assistant for the Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s production of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream Opera (2022); Co-Designer of Bertolt Brecht’s Threepenny Opera (2022); Set and Props Designer for Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd (June 2023) directed by Constantine Costi; and Costume Designer on Monteverdi's opera L'incoronazione di Poppea, a collaborative production with the Sydney Conservatorium of Music featuring the world premiere of a new score by Elena Kats-Chernin (October 2023), directed by David Berthold.
Cosette’s screen credits also include Costume Assistant and Stylist on Karen Pearlman’s multi award winning short film series Breaking plates and Impossible Image in Sydney, Australia, as well as associate Costume Designer on its set in Toulouse, France (for which it won Best Costume Design at the Exeter Film Festival in 2023). She additionally was the Costume and Set Designer for Parish Malfitano's award-winning short film Worm, and she is a Co-Designer on The Triadic Dance, a reimagining of Oskar Schlemmer's 1922 Bauhaus production, which opened at the Melbourne Fringe Festival in October 2023.
Since moving to Europe, she has worked at Opera Metz, the Toneelhuis in Antwerp, and Théâtre de la Vie in Brussels with renowned designers such as An D’Huys, Helmut Stürmer and Corina Grămoșteanu, while completing her Masters in costume design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp.
CV
Design Assistant (An D’Huys)- May-September 2024
Werken & Dagen (Theatre), Dir. FC Bergman
Toneelhuis, Antwerpen, Belgium
Design Assistant (Corina Grămoșteanu)- March-April 2024
Salome (Opera), Dir. Joël Lauwers
Opéra Théâtre de Metz, France
Artist Assistant (Robert Chaplin)- November 2023-January 2024
Sculpture and Goldsmithing
Robert Chaplin Studio, Vancouver, Canada
Costume Designer - May-October 2023
L'incoronazione di Poppea (Opera), Dir. David Berthold
Sydney Conservatorium of Music and NIDA, Sydney, Australia
Co-Costume Designer - September 2023
Triadisches Ballett (Dance), Dir. Texas Nixon-Kain
Melbourne Fringe Festival, Australia
Set and Props Designer - February-June 2023
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Musical), Dir. Constantine Costi
NIDA, Sydney, Australia
Set and Prop Design Assistant - October - November 2022
The Artful Dodger, limited series,
Disney Plus Production, Sydney, Australia
Associate Costume Designer- June-July 2022
Impossible Image (short film), Dir. Karen Pearlman (Toulouse, France and Sydney, Australia)
Winner of Best Costume Design - Exeter Film Festival
Costume Design Assistant - April-June 2022
Breaking Plates (short film), Dir. Karen Pearlman
Toulouse, France
Costume Designer and Director - April - June 2022
The Masque of the Red Death, live performance based on the text by Edgar Allan Poe
Sydney Australia
Costume and Set Designer - October- November 2022
‘NIDA Short Film Project,’ Dir. Clara Voda
Sydney, Australia
Co-Costume, Set and Prop Designer - August-October 2022
The Dollar Opera, Philip Quast’s Adaptation of Berthold Brecht’s Threepenny Opera, Dir. John Bashford
NIDA, Sydney, Australia
Co-Creator and Designer - February-March 2022
Shoot your Emperor (short film), Dir. James Stibilj
Sydney, Australia
Set and Costume Designer - January-April 2022
Worm (short film), Dir. Parish Malfitano
Sydney, Australia
Set and Costume Design Assistant - September-October 2021
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Opera), Dir. Kate Gaul
Sydney Conservatorium of Music and NIDA collaboration
Set and Costume Design Assistant - June-July 2021
Perfect Stranger (Theatre), Dir. Kate Champion, written by Hilary Bell
NIDA, Sydney, Australia
Set and Costume Designer - May 2020
‘Je dis que rien ne m’épouvante’ (Opera Music Video), Dir Parish Malfitano
Sydney, Australia
Assistant Set and Costume Designer - March 2020
Noise of the Void (Music Video), Drab Majesty, Dir. Jai Love
Sydney, Australia
Palace Cinema Worker - November 2017-2020
Coordinated film events, worked with filmmakers and festivals
Sydney, Australia
Event Coordinator at Nexus Art Cafe - 2015-2017
Organized artist workshops, art installations, music events, and film screenings at Nexus Art Cafe
Manchester, UK
Education
Masters of Fine Arts (Costume Design) - Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp (2025-2026)
Bachelor of Fine Art (Design for Performance) - National Institute of Dramatic Arts, Australia (2021-2024)
Bachelor of Arts (Film Studies) - University of Sydney (2018-2021)
Théoretical Design Work
Appropriate (2021) by John Jacob Jenkins - Costume and Set Designer
The Venetian Twins (2021) by Carlo Goldoni - Original Concept and Costume Designer
Frankenstein (2021) by Nick Deer - Original Concept, Set and Costume Designer
Priscilla Queen of the Desert (2021) by Stephan Elliott - Original Concept and Costume Designer
The Tempest (2022) by William Shakespeare - Original Concept, Set and Costume Designer
The Masque of the Red Death (2022) by Edgar Allan Poe - Original Concept, Costume and Maker
Cellophane (2022) - Co-Created by Cosette Mangas, James Stibilj and Taylah Miller
Káťa Kabanova (2022) - Original Concept, Set and Costume Designer
L’Orfeo (2024) - by Claudio Monteverdi - Original Concept, Set and Costume Designer
Les Enfants Terribles (2025) - Original Concept, Set and Costume Designer