David Dean

David Dean (1944 – 2017) was a costume designer who was appointed assistant head of wardrobe at Covent Garden where he worked closely with important ballet designers, directors and performers. He was also wardrobe supervisor for London Festival Ballet and later technical manager for English National Ballet.

In 1986 he was appointed as a guest teacher by the RAD College (later the Faculty of Education) to teach theatrical costume design to 2nd year students. He was the design consultant for many of the student ‘Workshop’ performances, and contributed to other ‘production’ modules on the BA (Hons) Art and Teaching of Ballet until 2004.

In 1994 his popular ‘How to Make’ series was first published in the RAD Dance Gazette. The series provided simple instructions for parents and teachers who wished to make their own ballet costumes for school performances, and continued until 2001.

In 1995 Dean designed the costumes for a production of Kenneth MacMillan’s Solitaire, mounted by Lynn Wallis for a Gala performance in Tokyo as part of the RAD’s 75th anniversary celebrations.

The material now housed in the Philip Richardson Library includes many costume designs and working documents related to RAD student performances, as well as the original layouts for the ‘How to Make’ series and designs for the 1995 production of Solitaire in Tokyo.