Vogue Australia: Having just wrapped Crimson Peak, a gothic period piece staring Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain and Tom Hiddleston, costume designer Kate Hawley, whose resume includes Edge of Tomorrow, Pacific Rim and the upcoming Suicide Squad talks to Vogue about movie sets and dream projects.
12 comments:
I really like the part of the interview where Kate spoke about serving the character, because I feel as though designers so often lose this part of the design process. It is so easy for things to get decorative, and I think that really kills the storytelling in any design, not just costumes. Yes, decorative things are pretty. At the end of the day however, clarity is really important from an audience perspective. You lose so much of the story clarity when you focus on being decorative. Another part of the interview that interested me was the part where she mentioned perseverance. It's also funny thinking about the fact that the designers perseverance is so ridiculously underrated. The trope is that performers are constantly persevering through endless long audition processes that end in no callbacks. Yet, designers have to work just as hard to stay in the business.
I love reading that professionals are giving the same advice that our professors give. It gives me hope that one day I will actually have a job. Since declaring is very near in my future, I keep looking at costumes versus scenic designers and trying to see which I like more. This article has reaffirmed for me that no matter what I choose, the basic concepts that I will learn will carry over into anything I do relating to design. Although my skills will be very refined in one area of expertise, I can definitely carry over the idea of telling a story into every design discipline very easily. This is why I’m not as concerned about taking every class I want to anymore. I have a few more days before I must finalize what I declare just for advising purposes but within the next two and a half years I am pretty sure that I will have the same basic foundation for designing as Kate Hawley.
It seems that no matter if I'm reading, talking to upperclassmen who have worked in the industry, or talking to our professors, they all have the same things to say about theater. It comes down to serving the characters, the story, and the vision of the piece, and collaborating and responding to other departments and their ideas as while as owning your own vision. I like what she says about how, no matter is she's working of sci-fi action or gothic period, her process of creating the design doesn't change. I think finding the design process that works best for you can be a tricky thing, and once you've found what works for you you should stick with it even if it is very different from other people's process. I also agree with what Sasha said about declaring her concentration, no matter what you declare as a DP, I think we are all being taught basic principles of design and working creatively and collaboratively that will serve us no matter what we decide to do after college.
As someone who has only ever designed sets before, never costumes, the idea of the very literal connection between characters and costumes is fascinating to me, as scenic design is almost never quite so dependent on individual characters, and that relationship isn’t nearly as prevalent (except in extreme cases, such as the box of Christopher’s mind in “Curious Incident”, and in character- specific settings such as someone’s bedroom or office). I love reading articles like this, because I’m so interested in how designers approach their research, and how they view the purpose of their work as a whole. It’s so cool that, in this case, the designer worked directly with the actors to make sure that her approach to the costume design matched up with what the actors and director’s visions are for the character’s personality. I’ve had conversations about this with a few of the DPs in our class who want to pursue costume design, and they’ve both said that they would love to design costumes for TV, because they would be able to get much more detailed in their handiwork due to the closeness of the camerawork and the more “reality” based world of television. While I myself don’t think I would do well as a costume designer, I think that the process of designing for individual characters is fascinating.
I can only imagine how hard it must be to be a Hollywood Costume designer. In theater you have the benefit of distance. What I mean by this is that the audience can be up to twenty feet away from your work. Because of this you can be a little more relaxed about the detail of the costume on stage. For example even an audience member in the front row can not tell what color thread was used. Let alone an audience member in the last row of the balcony. However, in film you do not get this luxury at all. This is because film is very close up making the audience basically feet away from the garment. This means that precision is key. Ever mistake will stand out once the film is on the big screen. In general, costuming is not an easy job, and I have loads of respect for film designers.
Agh, this was so inspiring! I love reading articles that come from the mouths of professionals -- especially those in movies I really admire, like Pacific Rim. Basically I love anything associated with Guillermo Del Toro, but that's another story. I really connected with Hawley's advice about always putting the character first in creation. You are creating clothing that defines their personality, their inner ideas and outward appearances -- it's all about who they are and what they are. If you don't have a very concrete idea or opinion of what that character is, you're going to lose them in ruffles and rolls and tulle, and the design might be pretty, but it won't hold significance that will stand out to the audience, or help the actor do their job. Hawley's comment about having the actors come in to see the mood boards and talk about character ideas was another helpful piece of advice. Collaboration with the actors in costume design is second only to discussion with the director -- an actor's opinion on how a character thinks, moves, even talks, is integral to jumping off on a fully formed costume.
My teacher in high school told me that when designing costumes for a show, you must first get to know the character very closely, and then ask yourself, "What would _____ have in his/her closet? Why did (s)he buy it? How often does (s)he wear it? What does (s)he pick out to wear on the day this story starts?" It is so easy to think of characters only within their part in the story, but I think one of the most fascinating parts of designing costumes is remembering that the story being told is really an interruption of the character's everyday life. I personally am so tired of seeing designs (in any area) that do not reflect the story or the characters in a thoughtful way, but aim only to decorate the show in the most exciting way possible. It is totally refreshing to hear Hawley discuss her drive to serve the characters, because I feel that is the most important thing to focus on.
This was such an interesting article to read. In my film classes in high school, we did constantly play back and scrutinize the characters' makeup and costumes. Costumes are so interesting to me because those are clothes that we normally don't see people wear in real life. Not only do costumes tell more about the setting of the play, but they also reveal a lot of unsaid information about the characters. I definitely learned a lot from this article; for example, I didn't know that actors could also respond and build on the design with their own interpretation of the characters, which now that I think about it makes a lot of sense. I also think that what the author states at the end (costume design involves a constant responding to the needs of other departments, not just your own) applies to all kinds of designs that are involved in a production. Theatre and film are both truly collaborative forms of art, and I think that is why they are able to be so complex and meaningful.
This article reaffirms why I want so badly to costume for film and television. There is a level of psychological character work which goes into it which I have yet to encounter in the theatre. The collaboration with actors, the deep and immersive thought process, the intense detail, production value, and visionary creation - it's all so awe-inspiring to me. This is what I love about costume design - the fact that at the end of the day, looking good should be an afterthought in the process of clothing a real life human being with thoughts and feelings and emotions and needs and history. Style is not how a person dresses - it is how he or she thinks and feels. It comes from within, just as good design should. I do not design because I like pretty things. I design because I need clothing to communicate with the world around me, and I know that on some level everyone does. The process Hawley describes is so exactly how I want to operate as a designer, under the intrinsic understanding that clothing is not outside of the body. It is an extension of the soul, an argument, a tactic, a tool, a story, a plea. I hope to be half the designer Hawley is one day.
I've always admired and been in love with costumes for film. film is my one true love (not to mention that I can't wait to see Crimson peak). my grandma actually introduced me to noticing costume design and showed me her idol, Edith Head and I've been inspired ever since. this was an insightful look into the production process. I'm not sure if I want to do costumes or scenic, but either way, this was helpful in knowing what it's like because we learn here about theater, and it's nice to see that the processes are similar and hopefully transferable.
it was very important to note that you must have a good relationship for the actors you are designing for and that is completely true. as costumer you cannot live in your own world. your job is to please the director while also making the actor look their best and that involves give and take from them as well.
either way, articles like this give me hope and inspiration of one day working in film.
This article was great! I love reading about how people(designers) in the industry make their creations and how intricate and different their process is. I love how Kate mentioned that she included the actors in adding ideas to their costumes. Because in the end, it's the actors who are going to be affected by it. Something I found out while working on Much Ado is that the costume changes the way an actor portrays a character and how their walk, movements, fidgets, and thoughts shift with each piece of the costume. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to design for film, all the angles, the close-ups. It would be very easy to see a mess up. So much perfection is put in. But there are still similarities between costuming for theatre and costuming for film and that makes me so excited because it makes me think about how similar other aspects of design are between the two mediums.
This article was awesome! I love not only period costumes, but the advice that comes from real working designers. I think it is so important that this article focuses on the needs of the characters, actors, directors; the idea that theatre, and designing is all about working with people.
"Theatre people" are weird. I am one of them, so I can speak to this topic without judgement.
Sometimes I find that people who work in the theatre are unable to communicate normally. They can only talk about theatre and any other topic becomes foreign territory, and they just can't handle it. If people aren't communicating well, how can someone trust you to work with you on a project. How can you make people who you are dressing comfortable?
Aside from directors opinions, costumes are completely related to the actor and integral to a person's performance. Understanding how an actor feels, thinks, and moves as his or her character is integral to the a costume. I think it is so important that the character makes choices on what they are wearing and not the designer for his or her own aesthetics. In the end, costumes are just another avenue in which you are able to push forward the story.
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