When you read about someone you've already listened to...

Dear reader, I would like to share an article with you about eca graduate Ali Mitchell who gave us a lecture at the college this spring. I was so happy when I saw her name amongst designers like Sandy Powell and Jenny Beavan.
The mentioned article is: The artists's artist: costume designers-in pictures, where five costume designers of the film industry choose their favourite colleague.

"Sandy Powell on Piero Tosi

I first became aware of costumes in film when I saw Death in Venice at the age of about 13. The costumes, designed by Piero Tosi, were like nothing I'd ever seen. They seemed sophisticated, extravagant and, above all, glamorous. I must have gone back five or six times. Much later, when studying theatre design, I discovered his work in other films by Luchino Visconti: The Leopard, L'Innocente and Ludwig – again, all exquisite and sumptuous. Tosi comes from a theatre background and I think it's the theatricality, the use of colour and drama, that I love. He has an ability to stylise without losing the period feel; everything seems just that bit larger than life. In my opinion, Tosi is who all costume designers interested in period clothes aspire to be. Sandy Powell won Oscars for Shakespeare in Love, The Aviator and The Young Victoria.

Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive

Ali Mitchell on Colleen Atwood 

The first time I became aware of Atwood's work was in Edward Scissorhands. I loved the juxtaposition of fantasy and enhanced reality: you've got Johnny Depp in that crazy corset with massive scissorblades for fingers. The technicality of her achievement, alongside the creativity, was brilliant. She has the ability to deliver design ideas that are perfectly appropriate to a wide range of styles and subjects: the kimonos in Memoirs of a Geisha; Hannibal Lecter's overalls; Uma Thurman's futuristic suits in Gattaca; the amazing 1920s dance dresses in Chicago. Costumes are the first thing that tells us anything about a character. And while Atwood's serve the film in terms of storytelling, they are also flexible enough to meet whatever a film demands. Ali Mitchell worked on the forthcoming films Red Tails and Outpost: Black Sun

Odile Dicks-Mireaux on Christine Edzard 

Edzard really inspires me: she makes clothes rather than costumes and I felt we looked and thought in a similar way. The design in Little Dorrit, which she wrote, directed and designed, changed ways of looking at period costume. The way she used the fabric, the way she advocated a lot more hand-sewing, and cutting the costume true to the period. The team in her workshop do everything from dyeing to embroidery. She is always trying to find new ways of creating a look and has set up a wonderful picture library, to which many designers contribute. Edzard has always done a great deal of research and encouraged me to go and look at original costumes in museums – to feel the fabric, to look inside, to see how it's made. Odile Dicks-Mireaux worked on The Constant Gardener and An Education

Jenny Beavan on John Bright 

John Bright did The Golden Bowl and The White Countess, which I thought were absolutely amazing. It's not that the costumes stand out: they are part of the whole. As well as being a very fine cutter and sewer, he probably knows more about period than anyone else. He’s able to show you, using examples, the roundness of crinoline or how a waistline changes. He imparts his interest in costume with incredible enthusiasm, as well as a sense of how to make it work as storytelling. Jenny Beavan's work includes A Room With a View, which won her an Oscar, The Remains of the Day, and Gosford Park

Anthony Powell on Piero Tosi 

His work is perfection. None of us can aspire to his standard. He could do anything in costume – from abject poverty to a sophisticated high society character – and always got it dead right. I had never seen a photograph of him before I met him, around 1969. We were introduced and I just laughed. He was rather offended, and asked why I was laughing. I had this mental picture of an absolute monster – because, to get the degree of perfection he achieves, I thought he would have to scream and shout and make a fuss, but he was very sweet and gentle. There are lots of designers I admire, but he is a head and shoulders above. I know my colleagues won't be offended because he is on another level. I have just been watching some of the Visconti films he did and you can't fault Tosi's work. It's total perfection. Anthony Powell's work includes his Oscar-winning Death on the Nile, and Miss Potter."


(I feel I must copy out the text for future reference, as I am worried about the fragility of information on the world web.)


More to come later!