Stephanie Bannenberg is an enthusiastic and passionate costume designer who brings characters to life through their wardrobe.

 

Her passion came from studying Textiles and Design at school, sparking a fascination for costuming and historical dress. She began her career with her sister, Rhiannon Bannenberg, and their network of budding filmmakers to create their first feature film Ambrosia, which debuted with a sold out Australian limited release. This first project allowed Stephanie to explore elements of historical fashion blended with a modern day vintage aesthetic to create a seemingly timeless setting for the young characters on their summer break. 

 

For her sophomore project, Stephanie then assisted on Stephen Sewell’s directorial debut Embedded, and Rhiannon Bannenberg’s Rip Tide (iTunes, Netflix, Amazon, Foxtel), the latter of which featured US Disney star Debby Ryan.

 

In 2020, Stephanie began designing for larger-scale, big-budget projects beginning with the Steve Jaggi production This Little Love of Mine (Netflix) starring Liam McIntyre (Spartacus). She then worked with Jaggi’s production company on several films including Love in Bloom (Amazon Prime, Tubi) starring Susie Abromeit (Marvel’s Jessica Jones) and You, Me and the Penguins (Tubi), starring Tammin Sursok (Pretty Little Liars).

 

Between 2020 and 2021, Stephanie also designed for the AACTA and Logie nominated TV series Dive Club; a Netflix original and CBS Network 10 twelve-part series currently streaming across 190 countries on Netflix. This required a larger team and a vast amount of costuming including modern day, vintage, haute couture designer items, handmade historically inspired garments, and themed looks. As part of working with a larger team, Stephanie worked with the three directors, Rhiannon Bannenberg, Hayley MacFarlane, and Christine Luby to maintain a seamless transition between episodes.

 

In 2022, Stephanie designed her first Christmas feature film Mistletoe Ranch which recently enjoyed a 2022-2023 Australia-wide cinematic release. For this she used traditional Christmas colours and patterns, including authentic Scottish tartan, to create an elegant onscreen visual.

 

Most recently, Stephanie was hired as the personal stylist for Hannah Gadsby’s upcoming Netflix special at the Sydney Opera House, Body of Work, which saw her collaborate with the comedic powerhouse to create an image that encapsulated both her previous specials and the growth of her new material. This was then immediately followed by the Luke Spark film Bring Him To Me, starring Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile), Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, The Piano), and Rachel Griffiths (Muriel’s Wedding). Set in the gritty underworld of mob violence, Bring Him To Me allowed Stephanie to demonstrate her skills in realistic stunt and fight costuming through the use of bloodwork and breakdown techniques. She also augmented her role by organising and managing the brand partnerships with Indian Motorcycles and Ringers Western to match to film’s American Mid-Western aesthetic.

 

Alongside Stephanie’s design skills and determined work ethic, she is an accomplished teacher and has completed both a Bachelor of Primary Education (UOW) and Masters of Education in Gifted Education (UNSW). With this range of qualifications, she has been lucky enough to work across her dual passions of costume design and Primary education for over a decade.