Colleen Atwood: "Be strong, be right, be fair"

On this new post, after many days ago, I'll go write about one of my favourite costume designers, this woman called Colleen Atwood.

She was born in Yakima, Washington, the same day that I, on September 25th, but fifty years before in 1945.

In the 11970s, Colleen  studied painting at Cornish College of Arts in Seattle, Washington,  and later worked many places, including the Yves Saint Laurent boutique.

She moved to New York in 1980, where she studied art Iin the New York University,  and started with her movie career as Production Assistant on the movie "Ragtime". "A Little Sex" (1982) was her first film credit.

In 1990, she met the director Tim Burton, and they worked together in eight films: "Edward Scissorhands" (1990), "Ed Wood" (1994), "Cabin Boy" (1994), "Mars Attack!" (1996), "Sleepy Hollow" (1999), "Planet of the Apes" (2001), "Big Fish" (20013), "Nine" (2009), "Alice In Wonderland" (2010), "Dark Shadows" (2012) and "Big Eyes" (2014).

Colleen Atwood has worked in more than sixty films and series. Some of the most famous are "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991),  "Chicago" (2002),  "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" (2004), "The Tourist" (2010), "Snow White and the Hunstman" (2012) and "Into the Woods" (2014).

Also, for the music band My Chemical Romance designed "The Black Parade" band uniforms for the video and the costumes for the album "Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys"

She has been nominated as Best Achievement in Costume Design for eleven Academy Awards, but she won only three for "Chicago" (2002), "Memoirs of a Geisha" (2005) and "Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland" (2010).

Two years ago, she made her first Broadway Production with "Breakfast at Tiffany's"

Her career adivice, and one of my favourite motivation quote: "Be strong, be right, be fair". She loves read becuse relax her, just like me.

I appreciate her work cause I think that without her designs a movie doesn't be the same. I admire that her inspirations and referents for the costumes can be so different between one film and other, but the results are always amazing and she had a own style.

Here's my Pinterest's board with pictures of part of her work:

Follow Lizzy Alice Lawrence's board Colleen Atwood on Pinterest.

My Favourite Television Show

One of my favourite television show is the famous Doctor Who series.
This show exists since 1963, and it's about The Doctor, a Time Lord of the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous, who got a T.A.R.D.I.S. (Time And Relative Dimension In Spàce), a time machine that can travel to any time and any place. He regenerates himself sometimes: he changes his aspect and personality. That was an idea because the first actor who plays The Doctor  was sick, and for replaced him create that fact. Until todya, has been exist 13 Doctors. Always, he have a companion or two. My favourite Doctor is 10th asn 8th, and my favourite companions are Sarah Jane Smith, Donna Noble, Amy Pond and Rory Williams. Always have problems, because appears aliens that try to kill people or exterminate the Earth.

If you could be any Star Wars character, who would you?

If I could be any Star Wars character, I would be Leia Organa.
First motive: is married with Han Solo, the best character ever after Obi Wan (but he is a Jedi master and can't marry)

Leia is the biological daughter of Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala, senator of Naboo, and is the twin sister of the Jedi knight Luke Skywalker, After her birth, she was separated from her brother and adopted by Viceroy Ball Organa and Queen Breha of Aderaan, and eventually Leia became a senator of the Imperial Senate and member of the Allianc eto Restore the Republic.

His first apparition was in the fourth movie, when she is captured by Darth Vader because she was a spy for the

After Han Solo was freezing in carbonite, Lando Carlyssian help her and Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2D2 to escape in the Millenium Falcon,

Would I do anything differently? Yes, I wouldn't kiss my brother, surely xD

Summer plans

I would like to go to some place in the south of the country for escape of the warm temperatures, like Caburgua or Pucón, but my father doesn't have vacations this year, so I see imposible go out.

If I could do anything, I do anything. Just I would rest in my bed, read something in front of a fan, and eat so much ice cream and watch many british series and movies. I would go out just for go to the cinema or the theatre.

This summer, I want to make a nineteeth century dress, or maybe, easier than that, a regency dress. It could be hard, but since two or three years I think in do it, but never can for different motives.

 

I would like to work in summer, but I can't, because probably my family and I will travel to Rancagua three or four times in the month at least, cause my grandmother is sick :( So, I will to visit my grandparents, and that city is funnier than mine: I can go to the cinema, walk in parks, know near cities, and the better: is not so warm.

Maybe, I would study in some online courses. Between December and March, in the online platforms appears very interesting courses about different things. Now, I want to do one about write scrips with the BBC as their sponsor. 

I'm not sure yet about what I will do, I don't have many plans... but I hope rest and forget the university for one month and a half....

My favourite piece of art

My favourite piece of art is the play "Much Ado About Nothing", written by William Shakespeare between 1598 and 1599.

I like it because 

"Much Ado About Nothing" is tells the story of Beatrice and Benedick, that tease and insult one another mercilessly and repeatedly deny that they will ever marry anyone, let alone marry one another. However,  their friends arrange for them to overhear conversations revealing how much each is loved by the other. The other couple, Hero, Beatrice's cousin, and Claudio, Benedick's friend, have problems for stay together.  

Sweeney Todd

One of my favourite musicals Sweeney Todd: The Dmeonb Barber of Fleet Street.
It was created in 1979 with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and the book by Hugh Wheeler, and it is based on a fictional character of the penny dreadful called "The Strings of Pearls" written in 1847.

Set in 19th century in England, the musical tells the story of the barber Benjamin Barker, who returms to London after 1fifteen years in prison for false charges imposed by Judge Turpin. Barker looks for his daughter and wife, but Mrs Lovett, owner of a pie shop, tells him that his wife commited suicide some years ago and his daughter lives with the Judge. Barker decides take revenge and kill him, meanwhile he's still working as a barber, but under the name of Sweeney Todd.

The original production premiered in Broadway in 1979, with Len Cariou as Todd and Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett. The costume design was by Franne Lee, and the stage design by his husband, Eugene Lee.

Other excellent productioms are the 2005 Broadway revival with Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone in the principal roles, and costumes designed by Patrick Chevillot, the same designer of the movies Spiderman 3, and Night at the Museum 2.

And the 2012 London Revival, with Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton, better as known for his role as the professor Umbridge, in Harry Potter series. The costumes was designed by Anthony Ward, a very reconocido british theatre designer.

In 2007, Tim Burton directed the film adaptation of this musical, with Johnny Depp, and Helena Bonham Carter, and other english actors like Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall and the comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.  The costumes for the movie was designed by Colleen Atwood, my favourite costume designer.

 

This is my favourite musical because I like the songs very much, are wondeful, and the costumes are one of my Colleen Atwood's favourite. Also, the story is a part of comedy and a part about drama, and got a bit of gore, a great mix :)

My future job

In the future, I would like to work in costume design, especially in England or Australia. I want make designs for great plays, movies and television. I wanna do this because I think that places are the best for this kind of design, and in that countries are the better and most famous schools of theatre in every kind. I would like to work in animation too and design the costumes for stop motion characters, and work with great creators like Aardman animation studios and thier famous characters like Morph, Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep.

I don't prefer between indoors or outdoors, I would like to work in a bit of both. Also I would love to travel in this job, and know and look for more references around the world and know many places like museums, theatres and houses.

I don't think that I would use an office, I would prefer a room with a sewing machine and a desktop where I can draw and do the design sketches.

Sometimes I think in write a book, because I have many ideas that I wrote in different notebooks in my room, but I never dedicate time for write them as a long story. I have many ideas, and I hope made a movie, or an animation at least, about one of them.