Thursday Threesome- Top Three Costume Designers

When asked, I believe most people could list their top three favourite actors and directors and maybe even composers. But most of the film industry is comprised of unsung heroes, costume designers are among them, despite their work being present on screen just as much as the actors and they can sometimes play just as an important role in story-telling as the dialogue.

Here I hope to bring attention to the designers who have been the most inspirational to me, picking one from each generation and hopefully give you a better understanding of their bodies of work, you might be surprised to see which films share a designer in common.



                                                                1. Edith Head (1897-1981)

Straight to number one, I would be committing costume sin if I placed her elsewhere. This woman is a goddamn legend. She was nominated for 35 Academy Awards and won 8, not only is that more than any other costume designer ever got, that's more awards than any other woman received from the Academy, ever. She frequently worked with Audrey Hepburn, dressing her in Givenchy in Breakfast at Tiffany's, Sabrina and Roman Holiday to name a few and they are all films in which the costumes play a major role in their iconography and continue to influence the world of fashion today.
Seriously, just scroll through her IMDB page, it's seemingly endless, almost ten films a year for roughly two decades. Incredible...Speaking of which, Edna Mode's design was based on her.

2. Eiko Ishioka (1938-2012)

Her work speaks for itself, you may not have been aware she was the designer, but there was no escaping the sheer breath-taking presence her costumes brought to the screen. Bram's Stoker's Dracula, Tarsem Singh's The Cell, The Fall and the Immortals She only ever worked on 11 films, but they leave a hell of an impression, regardless of the quality of the film overall. She turned otherwise mediocre films into costume pornography, if you'll forgive such a crass analogue. Mirror Mirror was the last thing she ever worked on and I was outraged that she was not rewarded posthumously for it, but I think the Academy's costume category is a joke now days anyway.

3. Michael Wilkinson
I've already praised this man at length in my Tron Legacy review, to sum up his work in one word; "Innovative", combining technology and textiles as it were. He was the one who made me want to follow costume design as a serious career. Just like Tarsem loved to work with Eiko over and over, so too does Zack Snyder trust Wilkinson on all his films. I think this is a perfect team because Wilkinson certainly has a flare with superhero costumes as seen in Watchmen and the recent Man of Steel. He is one of the major influence in how we imagine superheroes on screen to look in the 21st century.

 It was really hard just picking three designers, my choices were based on what these people mean to me personally, how influential and inspirational they have been. Honorable mentions to John Paul Gaultier who made the Fifth Element what it was.
Michael Kaplan, who's work on Blade Runner alone cements his position as a legend, he could just retire on that. But he also worked on Fight Club and both Abram's Star Trek films which are all such varied worlds visually.

And finally Alexandra Byrne whom I have much to both thank and hate her for, she worked on the super amazing yet super complicated costumes of Thor and the Avengers, I should know, they are my most popular cosplay commission items.