#21 - Sandy Powell, Renowned Costume Designer on 20 Years With Scorcese, Costuming Daniel Day-Lewis, Ideation, Confidence of Age, and The Pressure to Create a Modern Mary Poppins

Red Carpet Rookies

Today, I am lucky to be joined by one of the world’s most influential costume designers. She's designed the iconic looks of Cinderella, Mary Poppins Returns, and Shakespeare in Love, as well as forging a lasting relationship with Martin Scorsese, with whom she collaborated to design the Wolf of Wall Street, Gangs of New York, and many more. Along the way, she has picked up the small sum of 15 Oscar nominations, winning three.
Thank you again to Sandy for joining us. It was a pleasure.
Today we discuss:
(02:48) Sandy's journey into the business
(04:30) How Sandy went about choosing her college courses
(06:09) Sandy's first jobs in fashion
(07:33) How to go about contacting Costume Designer or other HODs
(09:29) The 'trial by fire' of Sandy's first film job
(10:50) Lessons taken from low budget filmmaking
(13:24) Working with Directors & why it's helpful they can draw
(15:00) Sandy's costume design process
(17:10) Working in the fitting room with actors - does Daniel Day Lewis stay in character?
(19:21) Actor entrances and Margot Robbie's in The Wolf of Wall Street
(21:03) Who was responsible for Jonah Hill's penis in The Wolf of Wall Street?
(21:52) How Sandy went about approach loved characters like Mary Poppins and Cinderella
(23:48) Sandy on imposter syndrome and working on The Irishman
(26:06) Does Sandy draw her designs or photoshop them? How do they really get made?
(28:19) Quickfire Questionnaire
If you enjoyed this episode you'll enjoy this episode with Lord of The Rings Costume Designer Ngila Dickson and this episode with A Star is Born Costume Designer Erin Benach.
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