These designs show Juliet's dresses in various scenes. There is one, or a series of underdresses and then overdresses or tabards which transform the basic dress into a ball dress or the dress for Juliet’s marriage to Romeo. To group the designs in this way helps the costume makers see the relationship between the various dresses and underdresses, and which elements are common to more than one costume.
Audiences need relatively little information to recognise a period and here the pleated, skirted tunic with cloaks and slashed sleeves are sufficient to set the time as Renaissance. Designers usually draw individual designs for the costumes, but Alix Stone would often group characters together; this helped the makers see how the costumes related to each other on stage.
Although theatre designs are often considered works of art and are sought after by museums and private collectors, their artistic worth or decorative qualities are secondary to whether they 'work' on stage. The success of a costume design cannot be judged until it is translated into fabric, texture and decoration by the costume makers and seen as part of the whole stage picture. Some designers are very knowledgeable about costume making and produce very detailed designs, with notes on fabrics and making techniques, others create an 'atmospheric' drawing, which gives the feeling of the costume, and they then either work closely with the costume maker to realise their concept or have trusted makers who know their work and can create the effects they have in mind.