Pottermore Interviews: Costume Designer Colleen Atwood discusses her work on Fantastic Beasts!

Nov 03, 2016

Posted by: Georgia Gates

Fantastic Beasts, Interviews, News, Pottermore, Warner Bros.

Pottermore discussed all things Fantastic Beasts recently with the legendary costume designer Colleen Atwood, who designed the film’s beautiful 1920’s themed wardrobe. If you aren’t familiar with the name, you’ll certainly recognise her recent work in ‘Alice Through The Looking Glass’  & ‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War’  to name a few!

The Correspondent begins with: ‘Spend time with Colleen and she gives away the secret to her success. It’s obvious: she has an extraordinary eye for detail and a dogged commitment to the integrity of her costumes. She’s always on set making sure they’re perfect, which, I’m told, is not standard practice for a costume designer.’

Colleen: ‘I’m controlling like that. I look at and approve every fitting, no matter who anybody is, and I am very controlling in how I want everything to look. It’s important: it matters, and you never know what you’re going to see. I learned a long time ago that you can’t control what happens with pieces you care about unless you’re there, so I’m there.’

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The correspondent continues, paying extra attention to the dedicated mindset of  Atwood: ‘She is somehow omnipresent. Between shots, Colleen is there on set to preen an extra’s dress or smooth the collar of Katherine Waterston’s coat. She is utterly devoted to the way fabric’ falls on her subjects. Judging by the films she’s chosen to work on, she’s particularly interested in the surreal and fantastical.’

Colleen: ‘I love the fantasy stuff, I love that,’ she says. ‘That’s why I took on this movie. I like the challenge of it, and I like integrating fantasy into a period like this. You get to step out of it slightly and make something that’s a version of that time. Which is what movies have always done: in a way, they glamorise time.’

The correspondent describes their surroundings, listing off the many exquisite costume pieces including vintage garments, flapper dresses and an extensive collection of hats stacked within the white canvas tent.

Colleen: ‘I read the script and I see the worlds that I’m going to be filtering through as the story progresses,’ Colleen tells me. ‘In this case, it was New York and all sorts of levels of society so we researched the Lower East Side and Upper West Side, Hell’s Kitchen and all the immigrant populations there, the elegance and the aristocrats of New York.

‘I was in a panic because I knew it was a massive project and there’s not that much stock actually left from this period, so the first thing I did was go to every costume house in the world and pull the stock that we’re working with, with the help of some assistants. I started in L.A., because they have a lot of that stock between all the different costume houses there and also I felt that America embraced the 1920s in a bigger way than Europe, in a fashion sense. I wanted it to have a real American feel to it.

‘I was familiar with the period. I did Chicago a long time ago and it’s sort of the same era. I reread a couple of [F Scott] Fitzgerald books, which are always fun to go back to because he’s very descriptive about the frenzy and the romance of the period. It has so much heart that it’s helped me, and this story has so much heart.

‘Then of course, I’ve lived in New York. I lived there for 12 years. I was there in my twenties and it was a great time. It was a little grittier than it is now, I was there in the 80s.’

When asked about the extra special pieces shown in the film such as Eddie’s blue overcoat or Colin’s monochrome sleek outfit, Atwood reveals –

‘I have them made. I don’t sew, I design. I have tailors and people who work on that side of it. I work with a sketch artist. If I were to sketch every piece I’d never get the job done because there’s so much, so I do the concept work and give notes and then the sketch artist can work on it properly while I move on to something else.’ 

 

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It goes without saying that Atwood’s attention to detail is spectacular, and her vision totally encompasses each and every character through majestic design! Who’s costume are you most looking forward to seeing when Fantastic Beasts is released this month?

Read the full interview on Pottermore here!





The Leaky Cauldron is not associated with J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., or any of the individuals or companies associated with producing and publishing Harry Potter books and films.