This research report discusses and reflects on the development of the costume

design and choreography of the performance piece Cuttlefish, 2017–19. In the

performance, the costumes played an essential role as they completely transformed

the movements and forms of the dancers. To enable this, costumes were designed as

temporal forms, garments that contain a particular movement language based on

the structural possibilities of the body. The costumes are discussed here from two

perspectives: in relation to their role in constructing a narrative for the audience,

choreographer and dancers and secondly concerning the practical aspects of their

development as temporal forms. The suggestion is that garments constitute material

opportunities, designed to provide a system of possible movements and expressions

that the choreographer and dancer can explore. The result has implications

for both fields of fashion design and costume design as it proposes fundamental

parameters for a method of constructing garment as temporal form.