About Me
This is Lee HLR!
Having just recently graduated with a First Class Honours from BA (Hons) Costume Interpretation for Theatre and Screen at Wimbledon College of Arts, Lee's work focuses mostly on the development of tailored garments for a range of immersive experiences, themed entertainment, and film; with experience as a costume designer and maker at Thorpe Park as part of their small team of costumiers. Their skillset is predominately concentrated in the cut and construction of costumes, with an emphasis on high quality fabrication, and made with longevity in mind.
Tailoring is Lee's major strength and something they feel deeply drawn to. The attention to detail, high quality handiwork, and focused skills of needlework and handsewing, is something that they reflect in all of their work. Lee's current topic of exploration has been how we can incorporate tailoring into the immersive entertainment industry, both for humanoid characters and non-human/anthropomorphic creatures and characters; and how tailoring and the skillset of a tailor can work to develop a narrative from just a few feet from an audience. They have put this into practice in their work creating costumes for Fright Nights at Thorpe Park through the summer of 2025.
Sustainability is a major factor within my work, and Lee aims to be as zero waste as possible, which in tailoring is often a difficult feat. They combine zero waste ideas with traditional construction methods to achieve a garment that is both economical whilst maintaining the style that is required by the designer. Lee produces clothing that is built to last, using materials that are better for our planet and therefore kinder to the performer. They have a strong belief that a garment should not be as harmful to our Earth as most often become, so they upkeep the costumes and aim to preserve and mend, and think of the long term life of a piece.
Raised in a small community in rural Norfolk, Lee grew up in a house that values craftsmanship, with a family who worked on farms and building houses. Lee had a keen interest in woodwork for most of their childhood and studied it at school, aiming to one day be a set designer for film. During the pandemic’s lockdown, they learnt to use a sewing machine to pass the time. Ever the overachiever, Lee set my first project to be a patchwork shirt made from old clothes. Since then, they have only grown as a maker: realising fashion doesn’t align with their interests but instead costume combined the film, fantasy and craft that inspired them from the beginning. This leads Lee to where they am now, having left college with an A in textiles and excellence award, and accepting a place at the highly regarded UAL: Wimbledon College of Arts, and achieving and maintaining high standards of work; they couldn’t be prouder of what they have accomplished, and look forward to continuing to creating costumes and build new stories!
Contact
@li_rocchi_costume
@li_rocchi
linkedin.com/in/li-rocchi
Based in London and Norwich