Costume Designer Sandy Powell

Sandy Powell is one of the most famous costume designers of the 21th century. Her recent work includes-

• The Young Victoria 
• The Favourite 
• Cinderella 
• Carol 
• The Wolf of Wall Street
• Mary Poppins Returns

Though she has designed costumes for films that take place within the last 20 years, she primarily designs costumes for period pieces. The Young Victoria, The Favourite, and Cinderella all take place somewhere around 1750 to 1880. Powell expertly captures the essence of these time periods by taking into consideration class struggle, popular trends, colors, patterns, and political affairs.

Though movies such as Carol, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Mary Poppins Returns take place more recently, Powell continues her great work on designing costumes for these time periods. The costumes seen in these movies also capture the essence of each time period, displaying complicated topics such as the sadness of the depression, the gender roles of the 50s, and the absurd wealth of the 80s and 90s.

Powell has won many awards for her work. Most recently she has won the following awards.

• British Academy Film Awards (2009, 2018)
• Costume Designer Guild Award (2009, 2018)
• Academy Award (2004, 2009)

Sandy Powell will go down in history as one of the most famous female costume designers. Her work is remarkable, respected, and admired. 

The Beginning

The first Academy Award award for costume design was given out in 1949 at the 21st Academy Awards.  At first, there were two awards given; one for films in color and one for films in black and white. For black and white film, Roger K. Furse won for his work on Hamlet. For films in color, two women Dorothy Jeakins and Barbara Karinska won for their work on Joan of Arc. Eventually, the two categories of color film and black and white film merged together into the award we know today. As seen in the winners of the first Academy Award and from there onward, most of the films nominated for costume design fall under the genres of historical, musical, or fantasies. A film that fits under the genre of contemporary is not nominated for the costumes. 

The costumes designed by Roger K. Furse in Hamlet featured many embellishments, long ornate gowns, and elegant silhouettes. Although the movie is black and white, viewers can see the detail and brilliance of the costumes. The costume worn by Laurence Olivier is still in existence and has been in many museums. 

The costumes designed by Dorothy Jenkins and Barbara Karinska in Joan of Arc featured elegant suits of armor, colorful textiles, and excellent construction. The two female designers used their advantage with colored film to show the different levels in class through various color pallets- dull colors for the poor and brighter colors for the rich.