“I don't begin with costumes. I start by discovering the world that shaped them.”

Madeline Turner is an emerging Australian Costume Designer and experienced Assistant Costume Designer whose work explores how clothing reveals the societies that shaped them. She is drawn to historical, fantastical and imagined stories that demand richly realised civilisations, where costume is shaped by the values, traditions and lived experiences of the characters who inhabit them.

Her process begins by uncovering a civilisation’s society, culture and history, before translating those foundations into costume and character. Drawing on real-world historical and anthropological research, textile traditions and material culture, she reinterprets principles of repair, ritual, trade, identity and craftsmanship to create visual languages that feel instinctively familiar while remaining entirely original.

With over a decade of experience across historical drama, science fiction and fantasy, she has collaborated with internationally recognised costume designers to translate creative visions into cohesive costume systems across principal cast and large-scale background ensembles. As Assistant Costume Designer, her credits include Gundam, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Thor: Love and Thunder, Mosquito Bowl and Mortal Kombat II.

“My goal, once the world has been discovered, is to translate its history, values and identity into costume. To create costumes that feel tangible from first glance, allowing audiences to instinctively recognise the people, culture and history they represent before a single word is spoken.”