About Me
Hello I’m Ella Bellew
I am a costume designer based in North London. I have been designing and making costume for five years. Most of what I have done in the past is bespoke costume for live action role-players but now I am starting to do more work for theatre productions.
I was born in London and grew up in Kent, eventually going to university in Staffordshire to study a degree in business. I moved back to London in February 2009 to begin work experience for Madeleine Boyd and moved into my own workshop in North London in April.
I set up my company Bellew Costumes Ltd in January 2010 and I now have customers from all over the UK buying individual bespoke pieces as well as being involved in theatre productions.
I love watching films with great costume, and get a lot of my inspiration for new designs from them. Sometimes I’ll watch the costume and have to watch the actual film again later because I spent the whole time reverse engineering a skirt in my head.
I am particularly inspired by costumes based on historical dress. Recently I have been watching a lot of Steampunk and Victorian inspired films and have been experimenting with various victorian patterns and interesting fabrics.
I like being asked to make an item that a customer has thought up themself as this poses a new challenge and is a lot of fun.