WINTERTHUR, Del.—The route to costume design does not necessarily have to pass through fashion design, as one might assume.
Nancy Steiner, whose costume designer credits include Little Miss Sunshine, and Lost in Translation, said, "Fashion is a whole different thing; it's keeping ahead of the times, being on the edge." Many costume designers, such as herself, did not study fashion design in school, or did not get a degree (Steiner studied for only two years.) Teresa Binder-Westby ( Sixth Sense and Shadowboxer ) says she was simply "a vintage hound."
John Bright, founder of English costume house Cosprop, and costume designer ( A Room With a View, Sense and Sensibility ), followed a four-year fashion course, but said, "[I] listened to what they had to say during the day, and at night I'd look at books."
The costume designers spoke about their craft at a recent panel discussion, which took place earlier this month at the Winterthur Museum and was presented jointly with the Greater Philadelphia Film Office.
Most costume designers shop for the wardrobe they need. When they cannot find what they need, they find it more efficient to make it.
Often, multiples of outfits will be needed, for example a clean shirt, a shirt that's somewhat dirty, and a really dirty shirt. Juliet Polcsa, costume designer for "The Sopranos" said she sometimes needed three or five multiples: "People get dirty, get blood on them… It depends on the action."
The designers spoke about the roles of directors and actors in their work.
Juliet Polcsa explained that directors vary in their understanding of their craft. Some are very hands-off regarding costume design, to the point of being uninformed, while others are quite collaborative.
Steiner described director Sofia Coppola, "She knows exactly what she wants, which makes it easier and harder. She's very specific."
Sophie de Rakoff, an English costume designer based in Los Angeles who was the costume designer for In Her Shoes, said director Curtis Hanson "knew the characters inside out—not about what they look like, but who they are."
Actors also often bring their own ideas and their own feelings about the clothes they are asked to wear.
Polcsa said, "Actors all have their vulnerabilities. They'll say, 'I don't want to wear that,' and your job is to figure out why, where they come from."
The discussion also light-heartedly made reference to troubleshooting with safety pins and tape and touched shortly on dressing animals. Polcsa related that someone who had to make costumes for elephants for Ringling Circus said, "It's much nicer working with actors and actresses because they don't eat their costumes."
Being at times pulled in different directions, costume designers have to keep their eye on the whole picture. Bright said, "You have to keep all of it in your brain—one actor's vision, another actor's vision," accommodating these while keeping true to the director's vision.
Besides being people persons, costume designers cope with logistics. One issue is last-minute replacements. For The Bostonians, which was shot in Newport, R.I., Bright said Glenn Close left a week before the film production began; Vanessa Redgrave came in, he said, and "the difference is about five inches in height and many inches around the middle."
The shooting location is an important factor. It determines what can be bought on site and what needs to be shipped in. Shall We Dance? was shot in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in the middle of Canada. According to de Rakoff, there was a Sears and nothing else.
Everything had to be shipped in—and when it couldn't be, it had to be fetched, as in the two trips that had to be made to a factory in the middle of Italy to pick up some coats.
Steiner described working on Lost in Translation, which was set in Japan: "They don't make clothes for Bill Murray in Japan. He's too big." The challenges of dealing with customs and Japanese personal assistants rang remarkably true to the movie's title.
Costume design also takes into consideration all the details on the production set. Steiner said, "The wallpaper, a blue car with a white interior, all of that matters."
For those aspiring to get into costume design, experience is key and knowing people "on the inside" helps to get one on the set. The designers seemed to agree that, once there, talent and interest can't help but be noticed.
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