Sandy Powell in Conversation

Fascinating streaming of an interview from the Victoria and Albert Museum with the Oscar winning costume designer Sandy Powell.

Powell was interviewed by Bethan Holt, the fashion news and feature writer at the Telegraph, who started by asking how Powell began working in the industry and what got her to the top, the answer to the latter being “luck”!

They discussed about how she researches her projects and I loved the quite of “there is always another way of doing something”. She talked about how she is driven to work on a film by the script and how she can’t start working on a costume until she knows who will be in the role. 

The Q&A session was vibrant from questions about which actors were most involved in the design of their costumes, what it was like to see her outfits in exhibitions, about her work on Mary Poppins Returns and the difference between big and small budget films.

I was fascinated to hear about her project to gather autographs on a white suit, a tuille for a finished piece, when she was looking for something to wear to a season of award ceremonies and how it changed her experience of them. She used the project to raise money to save Derek Jarman’s cottage and garden by posting pictures of people signing on Instagram and encouraging donations then auctioning it. It was bought by Edwina Dunn who now planned to use it to raise money for “The Female Lead”, an educational charity dedicated to finding the factors that limit women’s choices and fulfilment and amplifies their voices to drive change and improve economic outcomes. The suit was on stage with her.