CDG - The Costume Designer

Spring 2018

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A Costume Designer often faces the possibility that the fruits of their labor will go unseen, left on the cutting room floor, or scrapped in order to serve the plot. Another situation has the camera rushing past carefully dressed characters and garments, which may have taken months of preparation. In a third familiar scenario, the costume is carefully considered from hat to stocking, but the only parts visible onscreen are the shoulders and face. These trade-offs are part of the unspoken agreement that every Costume Designer willingly accepts in exchange for the moments their vision is repre- sented in its entirety. Thus, it is an exception when an audience can look deeply at the costumes, and typically it is done only in ret- rospect. In the film Phantom Thread, for which Costume Designer Mark Bridges won his second Academy Award, Bridges had the unique benefit of his designs being docu- mented in a book initiated and edited by fellow Costume Designer Sophie de Rakoff. De Rakoff is no stranger to fine art photography. She explains, "It has been a huge part of my consciousness as a designer and always will be. The main part of my initial creative process is working with photographic visuals." Having also curated the Transformation X project (shot by Mark Laita) to represent the transformational power of Costume Design, de Rakoff believes a beautiful photograph is a treasure in and of itself. However, it is her profound By Anna Wyckoff The Women of Woodcock Photos: Laura Hynd

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