Designer: Britley Morgan Smith
Title: A Heart of Kyber – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Britley Morgan Smith is a designer/cosplayer from Anaheim, California. She has been interested in costume design since she was a child. Admittedly raised in an incredibly nerdy home, especially focused on Star Wars, Padme Amidala and Princess Leia Organa captured her imagination and never let go. She became obsessed with their looks and their spirits. “I decided that I wanted to become someone who created designs for characters as iconic as they were and have been working toward that goal ever since,” she says. “I spent all of my electives in high school taking art and graphic design classes through concurrent enrollment. I then went to the Art Institute of Orange County in their Fashion Design program, graduating in 3 years with my BFA.”
During her time in school, she interned at Shakespeare Orange County as a costume designer/costume manager and spent her first two years after school working for Creative Costuming and Designs as a digital pattern-maker for color guard, band, and dance costumes. She currently works as a design assistant for Michael Nicholas Designs making digital patterns for furniture, designing their brand image, and being in charge of their product photography. “I have also been cosplaying since I was in high school and during the past couple years have been working as a freelancer, creating commissions for cosplays,” she adds. “Wearing geek fashion is like wearing a badge of honor, and as geek culture becomes more and more widespread, it is moving up the chain into higher markets. Even Rodarte had a runway collection which featured scenes from Star Wars printed on their dresses. I look forward to the future and being able to draw strength from the characters I love by wearing them as inspiration.”