Stage costumes should meet the following 7 requirements:
1. Help establish the style of a production.
2. Indicate the historical period of the play and the local in which it occurs.
3. Indicate the nature of individual characters or groups in a play- their stations in life, their occupations, their personalities, their education and their political views.
4. Show relationships among characters- separating major characters from minor, contrasting one group with another.
5. Where appropriate, symbolically convey the significance of individual characters or the theme of the play.
6. Meet the needs of individual performers, making it possible for an actor or actress to move freely in a costume, perhaps to dance or engage in a sword fight, and (when required) to change quickly from one costume to another.
7. Be consistent with the production as a whole, especially other visual elements.