Colleen Atwood
Colleen Atwood
Colleen Atwood is an American costume designer...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDesigner
CountryUnited States of America
assistant bought buyer clients department design early private saint side store worked
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 have a lot of private clients that I bought for.
american-designer walked
In Chicago, I walked in knowing what the dancers were going to need.
child high life painter phase work
I wanted to be a painter when I was a kid. And then, I had to make a living. I had a child when I was in high school, so I kind of had that work phase in my life.
american-designer kinds lucky work
I've been lucky in the things I've got to work on. I've been able to keep it fresh, always getting to do different kinds of things.
futuristic jude minimalist
As for futuristic costumes, I loved doing 'Gattaca' because I'm a minimalist at heart, and it's a very minimal film. Plus, with Uma Thurman, Ethan Hawke and Jude Law, how could you go wrong?
american-designer lambs silence
Sometimes a contemporary film like Silence of the Lambs is difficult. To make it look real but interesting is always a challenge.
aware bought career connection costume design grew growing horror loved money remember saved small strange town washington white
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 bought was a white blazer, which was to the horror to my parents. But I have always had a strange connection with clothing.
costumes older people period periods scale technical work
One of the challenges with period costumes is, on a technical level, making the scale of different periods work on contemporary bodies. We're much bigger than what people were in older times.
both designing detail goes leather
I have always loved beautiful leather objects, especially the detail that goes into designing them both inside and out.
fashion trends way
If I'm doing something contemporary, for sure I'm very aware of what's going on. Personally, I like fashion trends, but when I'm doing a movie, it doesn't affect what I do particularly at all. I don't relate to it in that way.
thinking clothes design
I don't design my own clothes. It's so not what I think about.
stuff done standing-out
I love Johnny (Depp). A lot of the stuff I've done for him stands out for me just because of the relationship and who he is.
design floating lasts
I always have a moment when I know I'm designing the last costume that gets made for a movie and it's always been floating up there but it's kind of the last one. That's always probably the hardest one for me.
age assistants use
I have assistants that use the internet a lot more than I do. I use the internet for photo research, but for me personally, probably just because of my age, I'm not that mechanically inclined.