Costume Designers Guild (IATSE Local 892)

Overview

The Costume Designers Guild (CDG), operating as IATSE Local 892, is the union representing costume designers and assistant costume designers working in motion pictures, television, and commercials in the United States. Founded in 1953, Local 892 covers the creative design leadership of the costume department -- the costume designer who develops the overall costume concept for a production and the assistant costume designers who execute specific design work under their direction.

The CDG is distinct from the Motion Picture Costumers (IATSE Local 705), which covers the broader costume department workforce including costumers, set costumers, and wardrobe supervisors. Together, the two locals cover the full range of costume department work on union productions, with the CDG covering design-level creative work and Local 705 covering the operational and execution roles.

Membership and Scope

CDG membership covers costume designers working on theatrical features, episodic television, movies of the week, miniseries, commercials, and new media. The Guild's jurisdiction is specifically creative design work: developing costume concepts, researching historical or character-specific requirements, shopping and sourcing, overseeing costume construction, and coordinating with production designers and directors to integrate costume into the overall visual design of a production.

The CDG's membership includes some of the most recognized names in film fashion history, with members whose work on major productions has become definitive visual reference points in popular culture. The Guild's annual Costume Designers Guild Awards recognize outstanding costume design achievement across multiple categories including period, contemporary, and fantasy/science fiction design.

Costume Design Awards

The CDG Awards are among the most significant honors in costume design, recognizing work across theatrical features, episodic television, and limited series. The awards have particular industry credibility because they are voted on by costume design professionals rather than a general industry or public electorate, making them a meaningful peer recognition of exceptional craft.

What Filmmakers Should Know

For productions hiring a costume designer, IATSE signatory status is required to access CDG members. The costume designer is a key pre-production hire whose work begins with character and story analysis well before principal photography, and whose rate is governed by CDG minimums for the applicable production type and budget tier.

Independent productions frequently underestimate the costume budget, treating costume as a minor department when it is often one of the most resource-intensive aspects of period and genre productions. Understanding CDG minimums and what a professional costume designer brings to a project helps producers plan realistically.

See Also

For the broader IATSE structure, see IATSE in this directory. For the wardrobe and costumer local that works alongside CDG, see the Motion Picture Costumers (Local 705) entry in this directory.