3 minute read
The Fellowship – Sandy Powell OBE
Costume designer Sandy Powell is the first of her craft to receive BAFTA’s highest honour, the Fellowship.
With her BAFTA for The Favourite in 2019. Powell was also nominated for Mary Poppins Returns that same year
BAFTA/Ricky Darko
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When you make your debut on a Derek Jarman film, perhaps it shouldn’t surprise that British costume designer Sandy Powell revels in taking risks. Jarman, the iconic filmmaker, artist and provocateur, and his hugely collaborative set for Caravaggio (1986) was clearly an excellent staging ground for Powell’s trailblazing career that has spanned four decades and a cornucopia of films, styles and costumes.
Powell’s award-winning body of work includes collaborations with Martin Scorsese, Todd Haynes, Neil Jordan, Stephen Frears, Sally Potter and many more. “I make an effort to do different things,” Powell says. “I enjoy working with directors who are prepared to take risks, who want to break boundaries. That excites me the most.”
This love for the cutting edge was no doubt cultivated through her earlier work with influential dancer and choreographer Lindsay Kemp. “I’m a huge [David] Bowie fan and had read he learned mime from Lindsay Kemp,” she explains. “I went to see him perform in a show called Flowers in the Roundhouse in the mid-70s and it was really transformative... I knew then I wanted to be part of that world, but I didn’t really know what or how.”
Saoirse Ronan was one of many to sign Powell’s 2020 Awards outfit, which was auctioned off to help save Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage
BAFTA/Iona Wolff
A few years later, Powell instigated a meeting with Kemp by attending one of his dance classes. They became friends and he invited her to join him to work on a show at Milan’s famous La Scala, all while she was still technically a student, finishing her second year of theatre design in London. “I had no idea what I was doing,” she laughs, “but I learned a lot.”
A similarly direct approach saw her launch her film career with Jarman. “I found his phone number and invited him to come see a show called Rococo I’d done the costumes for at the ICA,” she says. “He duly came and, rather like Lindsay Kemp, took me under his wing. The rest is history. I was very, very lucky.”
It’s clear Powell really loves her work, and she notes that, “nothing’s more exciting to me than knowing I’m starting work on something new and I have no idea where it’s going to take me... One of the most exciting parts of the job is actually getting the job, especially if it’s one you really want.”
Taking part in the Film Session on Costume Design in 2020
BAFTA/Agne Bekeraityte
One such dream project was Todd Haynes’ Velvet Goldmine (1998), perfect for a huge Bowie fan, which would win Powell a BAFTA. She would win again for The Favourite (2018) and The Young Victoria (2009), the latter also earning her a third Oscar to go with Shakespeare in Love (1998) and The Aviator (2004). Now, Powell can add the Fellowship to her trophy cabinet, and, notably, she’s trailblazing at this too as the first costume designer to receive the award.
“It’s amazing to have that recognition for a body of work,” Powell says. “I’m thrilled and terrified, because I know I have to get up there and do a speech."
Read the full interview: bafta.org/about/awards-brochures
Main portrait by BAFTA/Phil Fisk; Words by Toby Weidmann
