Born in England, Louise Flanagan trained as a classical ballet dancer, graduating from the Royal Ballet School in London in 2006.
From 2006-2008, she worked as a ballet dancer at the Vanemuine Theatre, Estonia, performing in a range of classical and modern productions.
After two years working full time in a theatre whilst developing her design skills, the focus of her interest moved towards the staging of a production, as a costume designer. “I loved the thrill of seeing a new production come together, and seeing how each department-dance, set and costume-has to work as one to ensure the show is a success. As a performer, the costumes you wear are crucial in helping you get into character, and should enhance the choreography whilst emphasizing the physique of the dancers.”
She attained a BA (Hons) first-class in Dance and Performance Costumes from Middlesex University and completed a professional dressmaking apprenticeship at the Berufsschule für Bekleidung in Munich, Germany before working as a costume maker on many high profile films, musicals and operas in England.
Since 2013 she has been working as a costume designer for dance and opera, collaborating with amongst others, the choreographers and directors Jörg Mannes, Dustin Klein, Terence Kohler, Kinsun Chan, Sam Brown, Yuki Mori, Fabien Prioville, Andreas Heise, Peter Leung, Dimo Kirilov Milev, Ihsan Rustem, Andrew McNicol, Lillian Stillwell, Paloma Muñoz, and Silas Stubbs for theatres including the Bavarian State Ballet, Ballett am Rhein Düsseldorf, Stanislavsky Ballet Moscow, Tulsa Ballet, Theater Magdeburg, Theater Regensburg, Vanemuine Theatre, Oper Graz, Theater St. Gallen, Theater Münster and Origen Festival Cultural.
She has also assisted the designers Emma Ryott and Buki Shiff on productions with Ballett Zürich and worked with Emma Ryott on productions at the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow and Staatsballett Berlin.
She works as a freelance costume designer based in Munich, Germany.