Oscar-winning costume designer Sandy Powell walked into the room, regal-like, with a shock of orange hair looking every bit as stylish as you would imagine her to be.
She was very direct in her responses and very informative. This woman knows her craft and was happy to school all of us.
The film is visually stunning, from the costumes to the sets, so we wondered how Sandy worked with the other members of the film on the color coordination. Sandy was very clear that she chooses all the color palettes for the characters, but she did work closely with the people who design the sets and the set dressings…
“We make sure that nothing clashes with the curtains, and all the furnishings. I don’t pick colors for symbolic reasons. I pick colors because they feel right, and because I like them. I have a much more instinctive feel about – or intuitive reaction, and response to color as opposed to, I’m doing this because it symbolizes this or symbolizes this.”
Costume Creation
Making all the intricate costumes for the movie takes an incredible amount of time, and we asked Sandy just how long it took her from start to finish,
“I was actually working on this for over a year, from start to finish. Till the very last day of the shoot. Actually one of the last things we shot was the wedding scene, and the wedding dress was actually the last thing I designed. And that was really right towards the end of filming. So at least a year from start to finish.”
One of the most creative costumes in the movie was the lizard footman, so we wondered how she created him.
“Yeah, it, it was an interesting process, that. Because it did actually start with the costume, so I had to do a costume that looked like a footman and how can I make that lizard-like? So I used the texture of the fabric, it was a fabric that we dyed first of all the greens and the yellows, and over the top was a lace, like a silver lace which gives that sort of scaly effect. It was put over the top and then again it was painted again once the costume was made. It was like a tail coat but where the tail’s a little bit more exaggerated. The gloves were green and they were dyed with the yellow too. So it was actually all clothes. And then that gave the visual effects department something to build on. Then they designed their lizard, but based on my costume in a way.”
Favorite Costume
Sandy was asked what her favorite costume to make was and she couldn’t decide, for her, “they’re all really meaningful…..it’s like they’re like my children, you don’t have a favorite. I mean, you like different ones at different times of the day. “
Of course Cinderella’s dress was a favorite for different reasons, mainly because it took so long for her to make.
“I spent the longest on it, developing it, and it might not have worked. But it came out exactly how I hoped. So I’m, I’m proud of that one.”
The Fairy Godmother
One of the most spectacular costumes is the Fairy Godmother’s dress, Sandy stated, “It was an idea I had that was rather ambitious and, to be honest, we didn’t have enough time to really develop it. It could have gone a lot further, and been a lot more success—not to say it wasn’t successful.” Can you even imagine it being better than it was on screen. I loved that costume, but Sandy had bigger aspirations for it. ”
“I had this mad idea that she actually literally twinkled, and all over. But in sequences and then sort of choreographed. We got the lighting designed and all the circuits made up by this lighting company. But it took a lot longer than I expected. So that costume actually ended up being really rather thrown together at the last-minute. I kind of didn’t like it, it looks like it’s been thrown together. In a way, I think it’s quite funny that it looks like it’s been thrown together.It looks like she’s made it, you know, [LAUGHS] thrown it together. And the lights don’t work properly, it’s sort of like the magic doesn’t work that well the first time. I think, well actually it’s quite proper that it, it’s sort of lit up a bit.”
The Ball Gown
Sandy discussed just how she came to design the iconic dress. Having of course seen the original animated Cinderella, she knew where she wanted to go with the dress, but for her she needed see the actress who would be playing the art of Cinderella.
“Because we screen tested lots of girls for CINDERELLA. So I knew, and they were all different shapes and sizes. Different coloring, you know, and it really makes a difference who the person is. As to what shape the dress is gonna be. I mean, I kinda knew it had to be voluminous. I knew it had to be big and had to be impressive. But without being heavy. It helps knowing who the actress is and what shape you can make them. Or what shape they are, and then what you can turn them into, as well.”
On how the dress differs from the animated classic, Sandy made sure that we were aware that she did not base it on the animated classic that there have been thousand of Cinderella’s throughout history,
“…..there isn’t (just) one “This is the Cinderella,” that was the original Disney animation. And there’s nothing else that looked like it. And my brief wasn’t to replicate that, it was to do another version.”
Working with The Actors
Sometimes people just don’t like some of the creations that are made for them. Sandy explains how she handles it,
“You have to be very clever then in how you win them around, and how you persuade them that actually you really think it’s the best idea. You have to get their confidence, that’s the first thing you have to do with an actress, get them to believe in you. Believe that you’re not trying to make them look stupid or ugly or horrible. That you are doing the best possible thing for them. It does happen. And sometimes if the really insist, then you can’t push it, because if you’re gonna make them wear something they don’t want to wear, then they’ll make it look horrible. Or they will be so uncomfortable and that’s not fair.”
She also assured us that, even though, the corsets are known to be tight, that they are not that tight, she laughs and says,
“This is such a fallacy, this whole kinda corset move. You see, all of the costumes, I have really great costume makers who know what they’re doing, and especially with corsets, and corsets are made very, very strongly. If they’re made well, and fit for the person they’re made for and they fit, they don’t hurt. It shouldn’t be that difficult to get somebody into one, and of course it doesn’t have to meet edge to edge, but wherever it’s comfortable. And it’s all about making them, and making the right silhouettes and the dress that goes over top and making everything fit nicely.”
Advice
We wondered what advice she would give to someone who would like to follow in her footsteps and become a costume designer. She was point-blank in saying,
“I’d advise anybody who wants to do costumes, to learn how to sew. And learn how to make them. ‘Cause you’d be surprised, there’s an awful lot of costume designers who don’t know how to do it. And I really don’t know how you can design and how you can talk to somebody else who’s making something, unless you know how to do it yourself. You have to start at the bottom, you have to start at the bottom and be a maker. And actually learn how to construct and sew. So you understand the construction and the engineering, which is what it is.”
Last Words
“The whole role of a costume designer is not to make everybody look pretty. Although it’s nice if they do and especially in something like CINDERELLA, it’s to make the characters completely believable. Make the characters come to life and help the actors create those characters. So in doing so you hope that the audience go away with really strong feeling of who all those characters are.”
Cinderella is in theaters NOW!
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Disclosure: I was provided with an all-expense trip to LA by Walt Disney Studios to attend the Red Carpet Premiere of Cinderella. All opinions are 100% my own. This is accordance with Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of. Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
These costumes are gorgeous. I agree with the designer, you must be able to sew and construct the items to explain what one want to depict. I sew and can make items via a visual with nothing but the wearer’s measurements. I feel a great sense of accomplishment with this abity or skill as some might describe. As for the Cinderella movie my girls & I are very excited to go.