Costume Designers Guild, I.A.T.S.E. Local 892: Like any great story, the hero has a drive and motivation the audience never sees. Following her CDGA win for Period Film and recent Best Costume Oscar for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Communications Director Anna Wyckoff spoke with Roth and her long-time colleague, fellow costume designer Carlo Poggioli. “I want to say something about our friendship, our experiences together, and the Ann people don’t know,” he confides. In conversation, we gain insight into the mind that commands the fitting room and conjures characters from a looking glass.
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I think that my absolute favorite line from this interview was “When you take away who she is, then she’s free to become someone else.”. It's incredible how involved in the character a costume designer has to be. They have the singular power to create the perfect space for an actor to escape the restraints of their own being and become an entirely new person. I was in awe of all the passion and confidence that Roth had. When she said, “And at one point you said, ‘If you have something to say, instead of being in your vineyard, take your helicopter, come here and say it.’” it felt very liberating. She wasn’t going to let anyone else to take away the integrity and effort of her art. The hierarchy of any production can often feel unequal and to see someone so brazenly declare themselves is wonderful to me. She has just as many stakes in her art as any other member of a crew should have. To add to her spunk, I loved the style of her renderings and how expressive and character-specific they were. After reading this article I will be sure to check out more of Ann Roth’s work.
I think the thing that struck me the most was when Roth said “You’re there for them. You’re not there for yourself. [...] You help the actor find the character. That’s all.” I think that applies to all areas of theatre, and it can be difficult to hear because of course it is your work and you're proud of it, and when it goes unnoticed it can be really difficult. But, at the same time, as Roth said and Bunny discussed, it's incredible to know you helped shape that character on stage. Everything we do in the background leads to the final product that creates the finished look in which the actors can be the character and the audience can escape into the world we as theatre makers are presenting. I also found it interesting how much collaboration she has with the actors, although she's a designer Roth really makes the actors feel comfortable and works with them to find their character, as though she is part of the rehearsal process.
So, I'm not that familiar with Ann Roth's work, but reading this article makes her sound like the coolest person to have a coffee with. She sounds like she knows her worth in her profession and how her mind is so brilliant that people would probably beg to work with her. All of her film work just screams talent and so much thought put into it. The way she talks about transforming an actor into their character and giving them that agency is so beautiful. And then after that she lets the "character" tell her who they want to become and it's just mind boggling genius. I had no idea that she was the oldest costumer who's been working in the industry and went to Carnegie Mellon! She also sounds like a total badass if she can tell high executive people off like that. She's also the oldest woman in Oscar's history to win an award.
Some of Roth’s and Poggioli’s ‘beliefs’ really spoke out to me. They talked about how costumes help with shaping the characters -- “when you take away who she is, then she is free to become someone else”. I’ve always thought that costumes are so important to the building of characters, but it never occurred to me that costumes are also crucial in helping the actors to get into characters. I think this is perhaps the magic to costumes, that “the person in the mirror starts telling you what to do”. I think sometimes after dressing the actors, you just know that some things don’t quite fit, despite looking perfect on the hand-sketched designs. I also really admire Roth’s attitude towards being a costume designer, that everyone’s treated equally (and respectfully) and there’s no such thing as hierarchy.
I love reading about Ann so much. I remember how fascinating she was to hear speak when she came and visited CMU a couple years back. She is so incredibly talented and brilliant. Her designs are so iconic and it is really amazing to see how established she is and how far she has gone with her career. I really liked the bit where she said “the imperfection, the thing that is out of character, or maybe it’s in character.” I love this idea that each character’s imperfections are sort of displayed by unique and unmatching items in the costumes. In a way, that kind of rounds out the whole outfit and makes them interesting and makes them continue to tell the story of the character. Ann highlights how each character is imperfect in their own separate ways and she really dives in on that and has very clear intentions about her designs.
This article was incredibly fascinating to read. Ann Roth’s career as a costume designer is impressive and extensively exceptional, with this interview bringing a unique perspective on her thought processes and journey. One of the most intriguing sections of this article to me was the Through the Looking Glass portion. Wyckoff asks a very striking question about what a mirror is saying when looked into, to which both Roth and Poggioli talk about how an actor views themselves in costume. I didn’t think that it was directly related to the question, but nevertheless found it still insightful in terms of demonstrating the effect costumes can have on the perception of an actor. When discussing or applying the concept of a mirror, the primary element to consider is reflection. In this particular instance, the reflection on the influence of the costumes generates an interesting conversation around how Roth designs her pieces and work for maximum impact and detail.
-I personally thought that this interview was incredible, because I have been obsessed with Ann Roth for quite sometime now, and her work always never ceases to amazes me. Designing characters for a film or show, while seemingly fun, can be incredibly difficult. Ann however, brings a whole new dimension of depth and character to the costumes she designs, which I love. She is also such a character herself, being very opinionated and blunt. Ann is not someone that will allow anyone to walk over her. A line from the interview that really stuck out for me was, “You’re there for them. You’re not there for yourself. [...] You help the actor find the character. That’s all.” I never truly thought about costume design in this way, but its definitely opened up my mind. Coming from a historical costume design perspective, I totally understand this concept. The cut, fit, and fabric choices of a costume don’t only change the style and look, but they will also most definitely change how the actor interacts with others and how they hold themselves in a space. Costumes need to fit and aesthetically work for the actor that wears them has to convey the stories message. By adding a very real feel and fit to a costume the performance and abilities of an actor can be profoundly better.
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