Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541330
MOTIONPICTUREC O S T U M E R S .O R G 39 Muto-Lile Signatory House By Andrea Napier L Nestled down a quiet street in the heart of the Larchmont neighborhood of Los Angeles lies a beautiful two-story house. But unlike the others, this is not an old house. It's a new house. It's where Antoinee Muto and Kimberly Lile built their ideal space, the shop for the signatory custom-made workroom, Muto-Lile. In 1998, Muto-Lile bought what was essentially an empty lot and designed their perfect workroom in the perfect area. The proximity to the mid-city studios has been an asset to their business. With Paramount, Raleigh, Sunset Bronson, Sunset Gower, et al., within shouting distance of their workroom, Muto-Lile has been able to serve the Los Angeles movie and television business for 43 years. Between the two women, there is a wealth of education from both university and theatre experience. Antoinee Muto holds a Bachelor of Arts in Drama Design from Carnegie-Mellon University and Kimberly Lile holds a Bachelor's in Theatre from Viterbo University and a Master's in Fine Arts in Costume Design from the University of Iowa. The two met while working at Utah Shakespeare Festival and have been best of friends since. Sometime later, when Antoinee was on her way back to California from Oregon, where she had spent the past year at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, she thought she would stop and visit Kimberly who, at the time, was working in Los Angeles at Center Theatre Group. During this visit, the idea of opening their own shop was born. Fate stepped in and gave them a shove. "We were at a party and there's a guy there who was a hairdresser. He goes, 'Yeah, there's this place for rent on Rodeo Drive.' And we were thinking, 'That's prey cool, Rodeo Drive.'" Antoinee remembers, "We go down, and there's a big room above this hair salon on the corner of Rodeo and Charleville. We thought, 'Well, this is a cool space.' Clockwise from top: Antoinette Muto and Kimberly Little; period dress for 1883; Hello Kity costume for Sanrio; custom work for John Legend's back-up singers' dresses.