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Colleen Atwood Quotes

I worked in fashion, but I worked more in the sales side of fashion than in design. I was an assistant buyer for a department store back in the '70s and the early years of Saint Laurent. And I used to...

Colleen Atwood

I worked in fashion, but I worked more in the sales side of fashion than in design. I was an assistant buyer for a department store back in the '70s and the early years of Saint Laurent. And I used to...

Tags: fashion, sales, clients

I don't design my own clothes. It's so not what I think about.

Colleen Atwood

I don't design my own clothes. It's so not what I think about.

Tags: clothes, think, my own

About Author
Colleen Atwood (born September 25, 1948) is an American costume designer. In a career spanning over four decades, she is recognized for her prolific work across film and television. She has received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, and two Emmy Awards.
Atwood gained prominence for her frequent collaborations with directors Jonathan Demme, Tim Burton, and Rob Marshall. She has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design twelve times, winning four awards for Chicago (2002), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), Alice in Wonderland (2010), and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016); the latter is the first Wizarding World film to win an Academy Award.

I grew up in a small town in Washington State, so I wasn't really aware of costume design as a career growing up, but I loved clothes. I remember I saved all my money, and the first thing that I bough...

Colleen Atwood

I grew up in a small town in Washington State, so I wasn't really aware of costume design as a career growing up, but I loved clothes. I remember I saved all my money, and the first thing that I bough...

Tags: money, parents, remember

Knowing who the actors were as you were designing them helped, with Catherine's beauty and Renee's frailty, they directed me visually just by who they were.

Colleen Atwood

Knowing who the actors were as you were designing them helped, with Catherine's beauty and Renee's frailty, they directed me visually just by who they were.

Tags: beauty

The reward is that you can actually create a world separate from reality with a story, actors, music, and camera design. When it works it can entertain, move people and teach us all.

Colleen Atwood

The reward is that you can actually create a world separate from reality with a story, actors, music, and camera design. When it works it can entertain, move people and teach us all.

Tags: design, music, reality, world

I like the architecture of lingerie.

Colleen Atwood

I like the architecture of lingerie.

Tags: like, lingerie

The exposure I have had to beautiful materials across the world, from Japan to Italy, enables me to pull design ideas together. This, combined with years of historical research, has created a great fo...

Colleen Atwood

The exposure I have had to beautiful materials across the world, from Japan to Italy, enables me to pull design ideas together. This, combined with years of historical research, has created a great fo...

Tags: beautiful, great, together

For contemporary fashion, I'm a huge fan of so many of the people out there. I think Azzedine Alaia holds up through three generations of very specific, beautiful design. I think Jean Paul Gaultier al...

Colleen Atwood

For contemporary fashion, I'm a huge fan of so many of the people out there. I think Azzedine Alaia holds up through three generations of very specific, beautiful design. I think Jean Paul Gaultier al...

Tags: beautiful, fashion, people

I think that sometimes people don't understand that a costume that has to be worn every day and doesn't change the whole movie becomes iconic. It's very important because it requires a different desig...

Colleen Atwood

I think that sometimes people don't understand that a costume that has to be worn every day and doesn't change the whole movie becomes iconic. It's very important because it requires a different desig...

Tags: change, day, tired

Inspiration comes from everywhere: books, art, people on the street. It is an interior process for me.

Colleen Atwood

Inspiration comes from everywhere: books, art, people on the street. It is an interior process for me.

Tags: me, people, inspiration

I can create clothes for so many different time periods. I've always tried to avoid being pigeonholed. Plus, everything I learn about design and costume from one movie somehow works its way into somet...

Colleen Atwood

I can create clothes for so many different time periods. I've always tried to avoid being pigeonholed. Plus, everything I learn about design and costume from one movie somehow works its way into somet...

Tags: time, clothes, learn

One thing about costume design - and I think design in general - but especially costume design, is people have a misconception that it's very glamorous work.

Colleen Atwood

One thing about costume design - and I think design in general - but especially costume design, is people have a misconception that it's very glamorous work.

Tags: work, people, think

My own style is pretty classic I much prefer to design for others.

Colleen Atwood

My own style is pretty classic I much prefer to design for others.

Tags: style, my own, classic

Costume design allows you to do a different type of research and create characters, whereas in fashion, you create an image and clothing for the masses.

Colleen Atwood

Costume design allows you to do a different type of research and create characters, whereas in fashion, you create an image and clothing for the masses.

Tags: fashion, research, you

I design for the movie and the character as well as the person wearing the costume. I show the ideas to the actor, then do fittings for shape and technical things such as movement in the costume. Once...

Colleen Atwood

I design for the movie and the character as well as the person wearing the costume. I show the ideas to the actor, then do fittings for shape and technical things such as movement in the costume. Once...

Tags: character, ideas, you

I really don't over-theorize about design. I'd rather feel it than talk it to death. A lot happens as you unroll the design.

Colleen Atwood

I really don't over-theorize about design. I'd rather feel it than talk it to death. A lot happens as you unroll the design.

Tags: death, you, feel