CMU School of Drama


Thursday, March 20, 2014

‘American Hustle’s’ costume wrangler-in-chief

Magazine - The Boston Globe: MUCH HAS BEEN MADE of the disco-era dresses with precariously plunging necklines worn by Amy Adams’s character in American Hustle.
Many have wondered how Adams was able to keep her decolletage contained within the sternum-deep disco frocks without the benefit of tape or other tricks. Now we know the answer.
“Me, me, me, me, me,” says Honah Lee Milne, the 39-year-old who worked as key costumer on the film. “There was a little slippage during shooting, of course, but it was minimal. It was my job to make sure that it didn’t happen.”

5 comments:

Keith Kelly said...

Being in charge of costumes can be tough work and requires a huge amount of responsibility. Hanah Lee Milne was responsible for any costume malfunctions during 18 hour long shoot days in rural Massachusetts. Costuming is so much more than just design, there are countless subdivisions that very specialized and require a certain skill set. The management of costumes is one of the practically important positions. I can't wait to declare next year and discover the world of costumes more in depth. There is so much to offer and learn from. Honah got the amazing opportunity to work with one of my favorite costume designers Michael Wilkinson who has done some truly state of the art work.

Unknown said...

I thought this article would be more informational. The opening lines mislead me. The article seemed like it would be about what techniques she used to keep the clothes on the actors, but instead it was all about things that we already knew.
It is interesting, yes, to see how some people come from non-theatre backgrounds and then somehow get engulfed in when they find that place where they fit in. It is pretty cool that she started by getting noticed by working at a store by some people working on a film. Even if she isn't designing, her job is probably just as fun if not more fun because she gets to work hand and hand with the actors and other people on the set.

Albert Cisneros said...

I've learned a lot about costumes since I've been here in the school of drama. There is a lot more to the process of choosing and design costumes for film and theater than I had originally thought. The process for film seems completely different than the process for theater. Not only are there many more characters to clothe, but there are many more scenes and more costume changes than any show on Broadway. I was surprised to learn that a lot of costumers pull clothing from already existing stock, rather than designing them. I guess I am naive for having thought that each costume in a movie was designed, but it makes so much more sense now that I know the different facets of the costume design process. While costuming for a movie still seems like an incredibly huge task, it seems a little more manageable now and much less daunting.

Adelaide Zhang said...

It's always interesting to see more of the backstage "story", because people (including myself) always forget just what it takes to pull together a show even on a small scale. For something as big as a film like American Hustle, even just the costume department ends up encompassing a lot more than just making clothes, it's also a huge organizational task, as Honah explains. I also thought it was very cool that she didn't at all take a "traditional" route to get the jobs she did, and that it instead they came about as a result of her own personal artistic inclinations, in a way.

Becki Liu said...

I think all of this is super exciting! Interacting with the actors must be so much fun. When I was on run crew for Alice in Bed, it was so much fun being on costumes and helping the actresses get ready! I would love to do something like this. It's kind of like playing dress up and making the actors look pretty (or not! Depends on the show/film) Articles like this make me excited. Even though she's only talking about things that are kind of known in the industry and all, it's still exciting because it gets me on this positive future outlook and it makes me happy. I really like how she has made a real connection and has gotten to know the actors so much as to having Amy Adams thank her during an award ceremony and being able to tell a little funny story about Jennifer Lawrence's liking for messy foods!