About Allisa Swanson

Allisa M. Swanson is an Award Winning Costume Designer. She holds a BFA in Fashion Design and Marketing with an Emphasis in Costume Design from the American College of Applied Arts in Los Angeles, California.  

Allisa has been in the film industry for over 25 years. She is a member of The Television Academy, IATSE 891, ACFC West, UBCP and is the elected Vice President of the Executive Board for CAFTCAD.  She has designed, created and consulted for film, television and theatre as well as the 2010 Winter Olympics. In 2004 Allisa won a Leo Award for Best Costume Design for a Feature Film for “The Snow Walker” and has been nominated for 2 CaftCad Awards, one in 2019 for her work on Once Upon A Time, and in 2023 for her work on Firefly Lane. She has worked along side many award winning directors, producers, actors and crew.

Allisa enjoys the collaborative process in creating costumes and characters with Directors, Producers, and Actors. Allisa understands the vital role costumes play in character creation and transformation.

Allisa has also been featured in a number of training videos for University programs and has held seminars and workshops on different aspects of film, entrepreneurship, creature and costume making.

She also does personal appearances and costume judging at events and fan expos worldwide. She was a judge at Hal-Con in Halifax, NS and a speaker and judge at Animaritime in Fredericton, NB, Northern FanCon in Prince George, BC twice, and Dystopia 2 in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Allisa made headlines in 2018 for her compassion and care when working with Selma Blair.  One of their costume fittings was the impetus for Selma revealing she has Multiple Sclerosis on social media.