Members of the Baltimore arts scene gathered on Monday, Feb. 6th to hear from award-winning costume designer Justine Seymour. Sharing the story of her career—a path with many interesting and unexpected twists and turns—Seymour discussed her experiences as first an arts student, then model, designer, and finally much-celebrated costumer.

The audience for Seymour’s conversation included JHU affiliates (hosted by the JHU AAP Film & Media program) as well as students from the Baltimore School for the Arts, plus other community attendees.

Among the topics explored was Seymour’s interest in building character through costume, including how personality and relationships—a character’s power, insecurities, struggles, and feelings—can be made visible in their dress.

Seymour has recently won acclaim as the costume designer for independent series Unorthodox (hosted by Netflix, 2020), as well as for her work on recent Civil Rights anthology Women of the Movement (ABC 2022) and new biopic True Spirit (Netflix 2023). Her full filmography stretches over 50 films and television works, including major productions from Moulin Rouge! to Mission: Impossible II (both after getting her Master’s degree in design at the Australian Film, Television, and Radio School [AFTRS]).