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Ruby Murphy 💗

@costumebyruby

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Costume trainee for Film, TV + Live performance
natural dye enthusiast ❤️ lover of all things textiles
Please don’t repost my work elsewhere ✨

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Unit 7 - Shakespeare, final costume for one of the Witches of ‘Macbeth’

[1/3] Final photographs of my amazing model @katya.alisia performing in my costume.

Inspired by Celtic symbols and folk customs like Clootie trees, my interpretation frames the Witches as wise spirits of the forest and the play’s themes of natural order and destiny. Woven from raffia, raw wool, wooden beads, and mudlarked bones, a triskelion ‘breastplate’ threads through the slits of the costume with no clear start or end; the Celtic symbol for the cycle of life twisting in and out endlessly. Thinking about the three witches, ‘threes’ were very important in my designs but also very prevalent in the Celtic references and neopagan ideas of Triple Goddesses that I drew from.

The top half of the dress is fitted to the performer with a pattern inspired by the Herjolfnes medieval grave clothes, while the bottom flares out with irregular, asymmetric foil printed godets - echoing tree roots or damming autumn leaves.

All the fabric for the dress is second hand silk I got for free from @workandplayscrapstore and donations to my uni. Nature inspires not only the look of my costumes, but how I go about sourcing and working with materials consciously.

Thank you again to Katya for being such an expressive and incredible performer !

Unit 7 of @bacostumefortheatreandscreen , @ual_costume2025

#ual #ualprocess #macbeth #witches #witch #celtic #costume #costumedesign #costumedesigner #neopagan #folkcostume #nature #natureinspired #photoshoot #shakespeare #theatrecostume by @costumebyruby

Costume for 'Fate',
stills from video performance by Martina Ceglie @theyluvmartins_

For my final project at University, I created this costume - the character ‘Fate’, in the V&A’s ‘Spectacle of the Surreal’ dance performance.

Exploring the style of surrealism, I took inspiration from the multiple-exposure photography of Dora Maar and Yva. I photographed my performer’s arms before editing them together and cyanotyping a tracing paper negative onto silk habotai. As the performer raises her arms, the printed arms float mid-air. They are her next movements, predetermined by fate. Or perhaps they are the ghosts of her last actions, hanging like smoke in the air...

Beneath the blue, deadstock shot chiffon shifts between red, blue and purple to give a mystical, fluid quality. The silhouette was inspired by contemporary dance pioneer Loïe Fuller, sweeping and billowing before the hood drops down mid performance to become a low, open cowl back. At the front, I hand-gathered the fabric to create ripples, before adding gemstones (gathered from second-hand jewelry) in the shape of palm lines. Made from rectangular panels, the design is low-waste, and excess fabric is woven through the performer's hair.

After the live performance at the Victoria and Albert museum’s Raphael Gallery, I shot my performer dancing in the costume through fabric and prisms to echo the dreamlike, surreal costume. Thank you to @wimbledonfilmandvideo and @01101000_01110111 for helping so much with the shoot!

More performance photos, videos and making and design process coming soon!

Final project of @bacostumefortheatreandscreen at @wimbledonual

#costumedesign #ual #ualprocess #dancecostume #cyanotype #naturaldye #sustainable #surrealism #doramaar #witch #witchy #witchesofinstagram by @costumebyruby

Unit 7 - Shakespeare, final costume for one of the Witches of ‘Macbeth’

[3/3] Final photographs of my amazing model @katya.alisia performing in my costume.

Inspired by Celtic symbols and folk customs like Clootie trees, my interpretation frames the Witches as wise spirits of the forest and the play’s themes of natural order and destiny. Woven from raffia, raw wool, wooden beads, and mudlarked bones, a triskelion ‘breastplate’ threads through the slits of the costume with no clear start or end; the Celtic symbol for the cycle of life twisting in and out endlessly. Thinking about the three witches, ‘threes’ were very important in my designs but also very prevalent in the Celtic references and neopagan ideas of Triple Goddesses that I drew from.

The top half of the dress is fitted to the performer with a pattern inspired by the Herjolfnes medieval grave clothes, while the bottom flares out with irregular, asymmetric foil printed godets - echoing tree roots or damming autumn leaves.

All the fabric for the dress is second hand silk I got for free from @workandplayscrapstore and donations to my uni. Nature inspires not only the look of my costumes, but how I go about sourcing and working with materials consciously.

Thank you again to Katya for being such an expressive and incredible performer !

Unit 7 of @bacostumefortheatreandscreen , @ual_costume2025

#ual #ualprocess #macbeth #witches #witch #celtic #costume #costumedesign #costumedesigner #neopagan #folkcostume #nature #natureinspired #photoshoot #shakespeare #theatrecostume by @costumebyruby

Al copied my final piece from University, or, a person did, using Al.

We’re always told that posting our work is so important for reaching clients, but it feels so vulnerable in the age of Al that I’ve not posted on here in a long time!

Please share get in touch if you have any advice for me! How can better protect my work - baring in mind I’m not in a position to spend lots of money doing so!

Is this just something we have to accept now?

Or, how to turn this into an opportunity as a designer, and what steps forward I could take!

And please do let me know if you come across reposts of my work or images (ai or otherwise) that seem derivative of my work! I really do appreciate it and everyone who has done so so far.

Apologies for any bad grammar, or the text on these pics being a bit blurry. I’m only human ! Not AI.

Thank you so much 💙💙💙

my costume for ‘Fate’, modelled by @tinacegli3

#youngdesigner #costumedesign #fashiondesigner #antiai #antiaiart by @costumebyruby

Today, as we celebrate the divine feminine on St. Brigid’s Day or Imbolc, here’s a look back at my ghostly goddess costume designed and made for my final University project.

Created for the character of Fate in a live dance performance at the V&A museum London, the costume is inspired by women pioneers in expressionist dance and surrealist photography with multiple loose layers of silk billowing as the performer moves and displaying an experimental, multiple exposure print of her arms.

To echo this in my video shoot, I used special lenses, prisms and sheer fabric overlays to create all of the effects in-camera. The footage you see here is slowed but otherwise unedited. The fragmentations, like in the photographic cyanotype print, unpredictable and organic. Happening live. For a piece about fate, it has been challenging, exciting and so inspiring to work with fate as a medium. And it feels fitting that my character, costume and video shoot (which this is a short sequence from) all exist in blurry, ephemeral liminal space.

As a natural perfectionist, I am learning to surrender some of my work to fate. And, in offering up these sacrifices, the work becomes so much more exciting for it.

I hope you enjoy. ✨💙🌌

Beautifully performed by @theyluvmartins_ and a huge thanks to Jack, Ursula and Harry with their help on the video! @wimbledonfilmandvideo @01101000_01110111 by @costumebyruby

This photograph (slide 1) of one of my costumes taken by @thefashionableexhibit at my University Degree show has been getting quite popular being reposted on different websites and Pinterest so I thought it was about time to post it myself!

It is a work I’m really proud of so I’m so glad it’s connected with other people too! I’m lucky enough to have been busy working, but when I get time this style is something I’d really like to continue exploring - the themes, the draping, the print process. I’d love to continue exploring alternative photography on fabric, and to collaborate with musicians and dancers.

The third slide shows a behind the scenes snap from a video shoot I did with the costume, which I’ll be sharing soon too! And after this, a video of me and the lovely performer @theyluvmartins_ after the live performance in the costume at the Victoria and Albert Museum @vamuseum

Thank you to everyone commenting and crediting me in the Pinterest reposts of this photo where my name has been left out - I really do appreciate it!

#costumedesign #costume #fashiondesigner #ualprocess #printdesign by @costumebyruby

more illustrations from my folk theatre re-imagining of Woolf's 'Orlando'. The sudden and unexplained transformations in the novel, from character's genders to the time period, encouraged me to lean into a whimsical, non-naturalistic style inspired by the likes of Kneehigh and @emmaricecompany .

How could a small ensemble of performers quickly change costumes in view of the audience? Ribbons! layers! - I looked at traditional Mummer’s plays and Morris dance, and of course the incredible costumes and theatrics of @boss.morris , and the stripy stays of @belles_of_london_city

@e_m_parry was another huge inspiration - their experimental use of historical garments as unconventional accessories was key in inpsiring my exploration of gender and transformation through dress.

With performers wearing historical underwear inspired ensembles, the costumes could serve as a blank canvas ready to decorate with accessories of varying personas - different eras, statues and genders. And that’s all they are, accessories. Artifice.

Orlando’s perfomer, who wouldn’t multi-roleplay, would make use of multiple ties in a patchworked base costumes - allowing for adjustable lengths, detachable collars and sleeves etc to progress with time - before finally stripping down to a silky teddy underneath everything else. Peeling back the artifice and costume to a hidden true self that had always been there.

Atop nightgowns, bloomers, and farmer’s smocks: a love letter to folk culture and heritage craft - morris tatter jackets and baldrics, hoop skirts made from willow, horse brasses, corn dollies, roses and castles narrow boat painting. Minimal elements of the actual historical ensembles needed to communicate the character, but maximum whimsical patterns, colours and textures in the decoration. This was a quick project, and of the designs I fully realised the canal boat stays. But, I would love to explore this style further. It felt like playing dress up for me too! 🌹✨🪗 by @costumebyruby

Oak gall and iron: natural dye meets breakdown for some Brechtian costumes in second year of University. ✨🪵🎭🪡

I forage oak galls each autumn with my dad - the ones local to me are mainly knopper galls, I think they look a bit like popcorn! 🍿

On their own, they produce shades of brown, but transform into different shades of grey with the addition of iron. In fact, this reaction between oak tannin and iron has been used since the Roman ages to create black ink. 🪶📜

#naturaldye #oakgall #costume #costumedesign #costumebreakdown #dyeing #sustainability #sustainable #naturalfibers #naturalfibres by @costumebyruby

Stays and busk by Ruby Murphy, displayed at the Wimbledon College of Art BA Costume for Theatre and Screen degree show. June 2025. #wimbledoncollegeofart #ual #universityoftheartslondon #bacostumefortheatreandscreen #costumefortheatreandscreen #costume #costumemaking #costumeinterpretation #costumebuilding #costumebuild #costumemaker #costumedesign #costumedesigner #rubymurphy @costumebyruby #staymaking #staymaker #bargeware #staybusk #corsetbusk #virginiawoolforlando #handpaintedcostume by @costumebyruby

The design, display and artefact for my costume for an 18th century Orlando in a whimsical, immersive outdoor folk theatre piece. 🪗✨🔔

This is one of my two exhibits currently on show in the Wimbledon College of Arts degree SHOW @wimbledonual , now with extra bells and whistles! 🔔🔔🔔

From my previous post: “I chose to make the pair of stays from this design, worn as Orlando explores 18th-century London. The stays are half boned and topped with hand-dyed secondhand silk, which I have then hand-painted in the style of Roses and Castles canal art.”

Rather than historical accuracy, the design riffs on the silhouette of 18th century undergarments - a set of panniers twisted together from willow and roots, echoing the country crafts of basketry and hedge-laying.

Come say hi at the degree show this week, finishing 5pm on Saturday 21st!

#costumedesign #ual #ualprocess #costumeillustrator #illustration #18thcentury #corsetry #handpainted #folkart #morrisdancers #rosesandcastles #folk by @costumebyruby

Final photographs of my beautiful performer @oscarthegem in the Canal Stays as ‘Orlando’, 🌹✨🪗

For first unit of third year, I reimagined Woolf’s novel ‘Orlando’ as an outdoor, immersive folk theatre piece featuring multi-roleplay, music and dance

I chose to make the pair of stays from this design, worn as Orlando explores 18th-century London. The stays are half boned and topped with hand-dyed secondhand silk, which I have then hand-painted in the style of Roses and Castles canal art.

Adorned with bells in the style of Morris dancers (shout out to a big inspiration in the form of @belles_of_london_city ) the stays feature a wooden busk down the centre that I hand carved from a salvaged table leg. Busks were a key practical element in creating the right conical silhouette, but were often carved as love tokens. Here, Orlando’s love is also a dagger and weapon.

To style the stays for a photoshoot, I upcycled a chemise from vintage embroidered table linen with the help of @rebecca.w.makes and adorned gold wellington boots with more bells and whistles! Throughout Oscar’s hair, I have woven corn dollies, ribbons and flowers - a tangle of all different love tokens and memories of Orlando’s hundreds of years alive.

Thank you to @grace._.handy for being super handy ( ! ) carrying our camera, accordion, reflector and helping with this shoot! 🪗📸❤️

Stay tuned for more designs, and see the stays in the flesh in my show 14-21st June at @wimbledonual

#ual #costumedesign #folkcostume #stays #corsetry #historicalfashion #17thcentury #handpainted #folkart #morrisdancers #rosesandcastles by @costumebyruby

So lucky and delighted to have delivered such a beautiful screening on Monday of @nettledressfilm by @dylanhowitt , followed by a Q+A with Allan @hedgerow.couture and the dress itself !! (Plus the beautiful cyanotype edition by @zoeburtuk )

The screening wrapped up a brilliant day at Chelsea College of Arts - clothes swap, repair cafe and networking social, speaking to students about all things @ual_climate_action !

It’s definitely encouraged me to get back into spinning and slow craft after an intense dissertation and costume hand in! ❤️‍🩹❤️🌿

Thank you everyone for coming and being so kind and open with thoughts and ideas as what to do next!!

(The illustration is by talented artist and fellow climate advocate @hei.plays ) by @costumebyruby