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PART B COSTUME DESIGNER: Sandy Powell “I really always start with the cloth. The Fabric will give me an idea what to make with it – if I find a fabric I fall in love with, I’ll make a costume around that” – Sandy Powell

PATHWAY INTO COSTUME DESIGNING AND TRAINING: Sandy Powell was born on the 7th of April 1960 and learnt how to sew from an early age by her mother. Her mother used to make clothes for her and her sister as well as their dolls. She showed an interest in the shape, fabric and design and soon started to make her own clothes. She started off her university studies at Central Saint Martin’s in a theatre design degree however she didn’t finish this degree. In the summer after her second year of university she enrolled in a dance class run by the British choreographer, Lindsay Kemp. Dance was not her strong suit; however, she did become good friends with Lindsay Kemp, which lead her to start to work in the theatre, without completing her studies. For the next year she worked as who worked at many different theatres an assistant for a costume designer and then began to work on her own commissions. She met a film director called who advised her, since she was thinking of working on films, to get a little more experience before doing so. Sandy chose to work on music videos as they were closer to film than theatre but not so large scale. After gaining experience for roughly a year, Jarman asked her to design the costumes for a film that he was directing called Caravaggio. Sandy learnt a lot on this film as it was her first ever and had a very low budget so everyone in the crew had to help out in all aspects. She credits Derek Jarman as her biggest inspiration and influence in costume making.

CONTRIBUTION TO THE FILM /THEATRE INDUSTRY: Over the years of Sandy Powell’s still going career, she has been nominated for over 75 awards and won 30. This includes being nominated for 12 Oscars and winning 3 of them: • In 1999: Best Costume Design for Shakespeare in Love (1998) • In 2005: Best Achievement in Costume Design for The Aviator (2004) • In 2010: Best Achievement in Costume Design for (2009) She has also been nominated for 12 British Academy Film Awards and won 2: • In 1999: Best Costume Design for Goldmine (1998) • In 2010: Best Costume Design for The Young Victoria (2009)

Sandy Powell has some films that she has won multiple awards for. They include The Young Victoria, , Shakespeare in Love and Carol.

The Young Victoria: Year Award Award Show 2010 Best Achievement in Costume Design Oscars 2010 Best Costume Design BAFTA 2010 Best Costume Design – International CinEuphoria Awards Competition 2010 Excellence in Period Film Costume Designers Guild Awards 2010 Costume Design Gold Derby Awards 2009 Best Costume Design Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards

Cinderella: Year Award Award Show 2015 Best Costume Capri, Hollywood 2015 Costume Designer of the Year Hollywood Film awards 2016 Best Costume Design Online Film & Television Association

Shakespeare in Love Year Award Award Show 1999 Best Costume Design Oscars 1998 Best Costume Design Awards Circuit Community Awards 1999 Best Costume Design Online Film & Television Association

Carol: Year Award Award Show 2015 Best Costume Design Awards Circuit Community Awards 2016 Best Costume Design International Online Cinema Awards

Sandy Powell is well known and extremely talented Costume Designer who plays an important role in capturing the feel and narrative of films.

COMPLETE FILMOGRPHY OF SIGNIFICANT FILMS OR PLAYS AND THE CLIENTS/DIRECTORS/ACTORS THEY HAVE DESIGNED COSTUMES FOR: Caravaggio (1986) Director: Derek Jarman Velvet Goldmine (1998) Significant Actors: Nigel Terry, , Director: Todd Haynes Significant Actors: Ewan McGregor

Orlando (1992) Gangs of New York (2002) Director: Director: Significant Actors: Tilda Swinton Significant Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, John C. Reilly, Daniel Day- Interview with the Vampire (1994) Lewis, Director: Neil Jordan Significant Actors: , Christian Far from Heaven (2002) Slatter, Director: Todd Haynes Significant Actors: The Wings of the Dove (1997) Director: The Aviator (2004) Significant Actors: , Director: Martin Scorsese Significant Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, , Alec Baldwin, Gwen Stefani, Shakespeare in Love (1998) Jude Law, John C. Reilly, Director: John Madden Significant Actors: , Judi Mrs Henderson Presents (2005) Dench, Joseph Fiennes Director: Significant Actors: , Cinderella (2015) The Young Victoria (2009) Director: Director: Jean-Marc Vallée Significant Actors: , Cate Significant Actors: , Paul Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Bettany Carol (2015) Hugo (2011) Director: Todd Haynes Director: Martin Scorsese Significant Actors: Cate Blanchett, Significant Actors: Asa Butterfield, , Jude Law, , Richard Griffiths,

Films: • Caravaggio (1986) • Sylvia (2003) • The Last of (1988) • The Aviator (2004) • Edward II (1991) • Mrs Henderson Presents (2005) • Orlando (1992) • (2006) • The Crying Game (1992) • The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) • Wittgenstein (1993) • The Young Victoria (2009) • Being Human (1994) • Shutter Island (2010) • Interview with the Vampire (1994) • Hugo (2011) • Rob Roy (1995) • Suspension of Disbelief (2012) • Michael Collins (1996) • The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) • The Butcher Boy (1997) • Cinderella (2015) • The Wings of the Dove (1997) • Carol (2015) • Velvet Goldmine (1998) • How to Talk to Girls at Parties • Hilary and Jackie (1998) (2017) • Shakespeare in Love (1998) • Wonderstruck (2017) (also • Felicia’s Journey (1999) executive producer) • Far from Heaven (2002) • (2018) • Gangs of New York (2002) • Returns (2018)

Cinderella Live Action (2015) Costume: Cinderella dress Actress: Lily James Character: Cinderella

Sandy Powell wanted to achieve the look of a watercolour in motion, she did this through layering lots of different shades of shimmering blue fabric. The very top layer was made from a crepeline, which is a very lightweight silk. Under this there is three layers of an incredibly expensive synthetic fabric called yumissima, which is extremely light. These two fabrics made the dress look as light as air even though the whole dress actually weighed about five kilograms. It has a lightweight steel crinoline to create shape, on top of this a three-layered petticoat made from organza, on top of that many layers of . All 8 dresses took 20 people and 4000 hours to create all of them, each of which were slightly different to cater for the different scenes. Each dress has about 250 metres of fabric and over six and a half kilometres of thread, as well as 10,000 hand-glued Swarovski crystals. The top of the dress was decorated with delicate handmade butterflies.

Sandy Powell says that she finds it more difficult to design for inherently “good” characters because you can’t exaggerate as many things. Cinderella’s dress was no exception she said that “It had to stand out in a crowd, yet be the simplest dress in the room.” The costumes throughout the film were both based on the 19th century as well as the 1940’s and 50’s. She said that, after working with the director, the costumes would be based off the 19th century, however make the film look as though it had been filmed in the 1940’s and 50’s. The ball scene had a big impact on deciding this because it is such an iconic and memorable scene. They wanted big dresses so 1940’s and 50’s fit this, especially for the stepmother’s dress.

Shakespeare in Love (1998) Costume: Shakespeare’s Jacket Actor: Joseph Fiennes Character: Shakespeare

Joseph Fiennes, as Shakespeare, wares a fitted grey-blue leather jacket throughout the movie with different variations depending on the situation in the scene. The jacket sometimes appears as just a vest over a flowy top. Sandy Powell says that it could be thought of as “the Elizabethan equivalent of a jacket today”. The jacket stays fundamentally the same throughout the movie, however it is adapted to fit the scene that Joseph Fiennes is in. This creates continuity and consistency for the character and gives him a defining feature that he can be remembered for. In some scenes it is seen without sleeves, whilst in others it appears slightly longer to make it seem more formal. The jacket has quilting which creates texture, body and texture to the costume. This meant that the silhouette of Joseph Fiennes was strengthened and more defined.

Carol (2015) Costume: Carol Actress: Cate Blanchett Character: Carol

Sandy Powell worked closely with Cate Blanchett to create all her costume for Carol. This particular costume had to contrast with the other main character Therese, played by . Carol is an “older, sophisticated, elegant, middle-class woman with money” and therefore would be able to afford nice clothes and the costume reflects this as she is wearing a fur coat made from vintage blonde mink fur. Sandy Powell chose the fur coat because it was an item that would make easily spotted in a crowded department store yet not look out of place. The choice of the colours was based on what was fashionable in the period that the film was set as well as making sure that they worked well with Cate Blanchett’s colouring.

“Carol is particularly interesting because it is 1952, and 1952 is not the Fifties people think of because it still looks like the Forties. It is a transitional period” – Sandy Powell

Gangs of New York (2002) Costume: Bill the Butcher Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis Character: Bill the Butcher

Sandy Powell worked closely with the director (Martin Scorsese), who really focuses on the look of the costume and what they are made of. This is something that she really like about him, that he really cares about the visuals.

The director wanted him to look stylish, sharply dressed and intimidating. The look of this character was of a 1930’s gangster. Making him well dressed, rather than scrappy made him seem much scarier. Other members of the gang were also dressed finely, however not as finely as Daniel Day-Lewis, so that he stood out and made a menacing presence. This created a sense of hierarchy between the gang members with Bill the Butcher at the top. Without the contrast of the slightly worse dressed members of the gang Bill the Butcher would not have been as menacing and intimidating.

“I accentuated Daniel's height and slenderness by extending his top hat, making his trousers thinner and his shoes longer.” – Sandy Powell

Hugo (2011) Costume: Hugo’s costume Actor: Asa Butterfield Character: Hugo

To create Hugo’s costume, Sandy Powell first acquired items through renting and finding vintage items. She had to test many different items on Asa Butterfield to see how they looked on him, focussing on the style and proportions. Once she was happy with how the elements looked, she got them remade so that she could make small adjustments to the original items. An example of this is the noticeable striped jumper that Hugo wears. The initial jumper was an old vintage item that was not in good shape, which was a problem since Sandy Powell wanted it in perfect condition as it is a distinct aspect of his costume.

Sandy says that “it's a storybook version of the '20s and '30s. You have to look and see everything through the eyes of a child and a child's point of view.” When designing the costumes for this film, Sandy Powell had to give the costumes this sort of ‘Storybook feel’.

The Young Victoria (2009) Costume: ’s Coronation Dress Actress: Emily Blunt Character: Queen Victoria

When designing for this film, Sandy Powell had to balance accuracy of the time with what would work best in each scene. She worked with the set designer so that each costume looked best and would appeal to the audience. To research for all of Emily Blunt’s costumes, Sandy Powell looked at portraits of Queen Victoria and also was able to look at original dresses in an archive at Kensington Palace. Through looking at how she dressed and how women of the time dressed, Sandy Powell was able to develop a style for the character and then based costume off that. Some costumes were replicas of actually pieces like her , coronation dress and mourning dress.

Sandy Powell says that creating the coronation dress, specifically the robe, was the most difficult costume of the whole movie. The whole outfit was created from scratch and completely based off the original dress seen in the archive. The pattern on the robe had to be created by buying fabric that had a metallic thread and dying it the correct gold, the patterns were then printed and hand painted on to create the illusion of embroidery. Sandy Powell works often with Swarovski crystals and so that is what she used to embellish . The crown was a replica of the one that was made for Queen Victoria, as there needed to be a new one because she was a female coming from a long line of male rulers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: • https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0694309/bio • https://agnautacouture.com/2014/11/23/sandy-powell-costume-is-more- interesting-than-fashion-part-one/ • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Powell_(costume_designer) • https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/oct/17/sandy-powell-oscar- winning-costumes • http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3026011/Yes-Lily-James-SHALL-ball- Swooning-Cinderella-fans-say-s-breathtaking-cinema-gown-fairy-godmother- designer-reveals-wove-magic.html • https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/news/fashion-news/cinderella-the-making-of-lily- james-cinderella-costume-by-numbers-99251 • https://hellogiggles.com/lifestyle/home-decorating/sandy-powell-disney-cinderella- ballgown/ • https://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/style/carol-costume-designer-on-making-cate- blanchett-and-rooney-maras/ • https://maerahades.wordpress.com/2014/11/03/shakespeare-in-love-costume- analysis/ • https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Far-From-Heaven-color-it-1955- Director-2747358.php • http://sweetsundaymornings.blogspot.com/2010/01/far-from-heaven-2002.html • http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/05/news/la-en-costumes-hugo-20120105 • http://tyrannyofstyle.com/designing-victoria-historic-resources • https://clothesonfilm.com/young-victoria-costume-designer-interview/7769/ • https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0694309/awards