Super Gleek: CGS sophomore’s designs featured on ‘Glee’

At age seven, College of General Studies sophomore Katie Rangel from Redlands, Calif., created her own gypsy costume for Halloween.

Twelve years later, Rangel is helping design the costumes for musical and comedy-drama series “Glee.”

“I don’t have stuff in every episode, but designs here and there,” Rangel said, adding that her friends play a game where they try to guess which designs are hers.

Since October 2010, Rangel said she has worked with “Glee” writer Ryan Murphy through the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles to help design the cast’s costumes. Rangel said her designs, from her blue dresses to her black-and-white ties, have been worn on set by the actors.

CGS sophomore Lindsey Felcher, Rangel’s former roommate, said that while she never got to see Rangel’s sketches, she said she has seen and loves Rangel’s designs for “Glee.”

“Her designs definitely reflect her lively personality with bright colors and designs, but they still have a classic simplicity to it that fits well with the show. I specifically loved her designs for the America number from ‘West Side Story,’” Felcher said. “She stuck to the traditional costume but modernized it and made it fit the characters. I thought she really captured the look well.”

Attending show rehearsals, Rangel said she has guided the “Glee” Creative Department in making and selecting costumes for the cast. Rangel, who applied to FIDM her senior year of high school, said she submitted her design portfolio to the dean, and gave permission to share it.

Murphy came across her portfolio while on a visit to FIDM, at which point the school had decided its semester-long freshman project would be “Glee.”

“Each student was assigned a song and you have to create a mood board kind of thing depending what your major is. Some people from the ‘Glee’ team came in to explain things, and they were going to introduce the winners and choose the designs for a show,” she said. “Ryan Murphy happened to be there and he was looking through it . . . He really liked the style.”

Murphy emailed Rangel in October 2010 and began the process that would lead Rangel to meet the cast and submit designs for their costumes, she said. When she returned to Los Angeles in the spring, Murphy sent her new songs that they would use for the episode where the team performs at a regional tournament.

“Designing for me is like writing an essay. First you have to get something on paper and then you re-edit it, re-edit it, re-edit it” Rangel said.

Rangel, who attends Boston University on the pre-med track, said she designs clothing as a way to express her creativity. When it comes to clothes, she said she wears her own creations.

“I’ve always been interested in medicine, but this is more like using the other side of my brain more,” Rangel said.

Felcher said she has seen Rangel spend several hours of the night sketching and putting together costumes.

“I almost always went to bed before her. I’m also pretty sure there were nights where she pulled all-nighters,” she said.

CGS sophomore Tiffany Ng, a friend of Rangel’s, said she is impressed by how she balances school and work.

“She somehow balances designing costumes for ‘Glee,’ making costumes for BU productions, being a Dean’s Host at CGS and maintaining her schoolwork, and she makes it seem so effortless. Her ideas are creative and innovative and she works hard to please others.”

Above all, Felcher said she misses her sewing machine. She goes to thrift stores at home, she said, and rummages around for different fabrics and patterns.

“If I like something for its color of it but not necessarily something else, like it looks like a grandma sweater, then I turn it into something else,” Rangel said. “It allows me to express myself in a way that I can’t in school.”