dresser
Dressers assist and support artists before, during and after the performance to ensure the performers costumes are in line with the artistic vision of the director and the artistic team. They ensure the costume quality, maintain, check and repair costumes and assist with quick costume changes.
dresser dressers assist and support artists before, during and after the performance to ensure the performers costumes are in line with the artistic vision of the director and the artistic team. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include standard sizing systems for clothing, work ergonomically, understand artistic concepts, safeguard artistic quality of performance, assist with dressing.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £45,534 a year for Arts officers, producers and directors (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 3416). ONS rates this estimate reasonably precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Technicians and associate professionals” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only dresser, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 3. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Knowledge you'll build
- Fine Arts
- Design
- Production and Processing
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Psychology
- Administration and Management
- Mechanical
What you'd actually do
- Create worksheets for dressing lists, show notes, or costume checks.
- Provide dressing assistance to cast members or assign cast dressers to assist specific cast members with costume changes.
- Arrange costumes in order of use to facilitate quick-change procedures for performances.
- Design or construct costumes or send them to tailors for construction, major repairs, or alterations.
- Examine costume fit on cast members and sketch or write notes for alterations.
- Distribute costumes or related equipment and keep records of item status.
Tools & technology you'd use
Frequently asked questions
What does dresser do?
Dressers assist and support artists before, during and after the performance to ensure the performers costumes are in line with the artistic vision of the director and the artistic team. They ensure the costume quality, maintain, check and repair costumes and assist with quick costume changes.
What skills does dresser need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include standard sizing systems for clothing, work ergonomically, understand artistic concepts, safeguard artistic quality of performance, assist with dressing, work safely with machines. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace dresser?
Our AI-durability model gives dresser a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.