I was living in London when I decided that I wanted to work with costume and styling, but I did not start working in the industry until a couple of months later when I was back in Stockholm. After working in Sweden for a couple of years I returned to the UK and worked there as well. I experienced a lot of similarities between the countries and the industries, but I also noticed some key differences.
Like the country itself, the costume department in Sweden is smaller; it often consists of only two full-time employees: a costume designer and a costume assistant. The costume assistant will continue to work as a set costumer during filming.
When on set as the costumer, you are often alone in managing all costumes and characters. Sometimes there will be an intern helping, and on days with a lot of extras either the costume designer will be on set or an additional costumer will come in for dailies. In comparison to the British productions that I have worked on, where the costume department has consisted of a larger team which means there are at least two set costumers with different responsibilities working on a tv or movie set. I prefer the latter, because working as the sole costumer on a film set can at times be both a lonely and a stressful experience.
Not only are the costume departments smaller in Sweden but so is the industry itself. In the UK, film and television are in a way different categories, which means you could end up spending years only working in TV productions. In Sweden there is no real difference between the two, it is the same people working in TV and in film, in national and international productions as in commercials, but in the UK I have found it harder transitioning between the different types of productions.
The cast and crew is also smaller in Sweden which, I think, is a big reason why the hierarchy is less apparent within the production team. There is more of a distinction between an assistant and head of departments, or an intern and a cast member in the UK in comparison to when I work in Sweden. Of course, I have had different experiences on different productions in both Sweden and in the UK. I have worked on Swedish productions that have had a stronger hierarchy and on British productions where there has been less of a hierarchy, but overall I have seen a trend.
There are more examples of how the size of the country and the industry create differences. In Stockholm there is one main rental place for costumes/clothes which means all the costume designers will go there. This makes it a place to network and a place where you will find out what is in production nationwide. For a long time there was only one agency representing film workers in Sweden, now there are a couple more but mainly two that represent costume designers. When working in London there were so many more different places to rent from which made it a bit harder in the beginning, knowing where to go and who to contact.
In the productions I have worked on as a costume assistant I was earning about the same salary in Sweden as in the UK. But I believe that there is not as much opportunity to advance your rate in Sweden because there is only a limited amount of productions which are mostly at the same level. Because the costume department is so small, the time it takes to advance from an unpaid intern to a costume designer and stylist is much shorter. I did my first paid costume styling job within months of starting in the industry as an intern. When discussing pay it is also important to mention that when working as a freelancer in Sweden you are eligible for paid parental leave through the government and that amount is dependent on your income from the past year.
There are pros and cons with both industries, but what has affected my experience the most is the size of the costume department. I prefer working in a larger team, having colleagues that you work with and not being solely responsible, which at times can feel quite lonely. But the smaller industry in Sweden was very helpful in the beginning. I found it very hard to know how and where to begin when I started working in the UK in a way that I did not in Sweden. It feels safer being employed in Sweden because salary is quite regulated and if you have a child you get paid leave. But in the UK there are so many different projects and different kinds of productions which offer so much more experiences and possibilities to grow.
