The saying goes dress for the job you want. Well, when it comes to filmmaking, you also have to dress for the film you’re making. If you’re aiming for a stern political thriller, the last thing you want is somebody wearing a garish and distracting outfit that throws off the tone. If the film you’re developing takes place in a trashy community, the presence of a well-ironed and new shirt can feel like that character doesn’t live there.
Costumes play a crucial role in defining the look and atmosphere of characters. Getting the right costume for the right film can take a lot of consideration. For instance, if a film is set during the 1970s, it probably wouldn’t make sense for characters to be wearing Air Jordans or parachute pants. A good costume designer can take these areas into consideration when developing costumes for characters.
Since the costumes usually become more memorable than the people behind them, it’s easy to forget that there was a mind behind the threads. In the same way that films are remembered by the directors behind the camera, costume designers deserve the same attention. Here are some top costume designers to remember.
Bob Morgan
Bob Morgan has been a long-time costume designer and supervisor since the 1990s. His work was featured in TV projects like Homefront (1991) and From Earth To The Moon (1998) as well as big movies like “Speed” (1994) and “The Nutty Professor” (1996). As his career progressed, Bob has become better known as a costume supervisor for a number of blockbuster action films such as “Inception” (2010), “Man of Steel” (2013), “X-Men: Days of Future Past” (2014), and “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016). So if you’re curious about the most recent iterations of how Superman, Batman, and Wolverine looked on screen, Bob played a part in bringing those characters to life. Bob’s biggest claim to fame of recent has been his work as a costume designer on 2021’s “Dune”.
David Crossman
David Crossman has worked his way up in the costume industry to become one of the most notable talents in the profession. He started off as a wardrobe assistant in the films “The Jackal” (1997) and “Little Voice” (1998). He would get bigger breaks as a military costumer for “Saving Private Ryan” (1998) and an assistant costume designer on the James Bond film “The World is Not Enough” (1999). David’s work quickly turned towards fantasy when he was hired on as a costume supervisor for a number of Harry Potter films including “Chamber of Secrets” (2002), “Prisoner of Azkaban” (2004), and “Goblet of Fire” (2005). Since then, he’s been involved with a number of bigger projects including Disney’s Star Wars movies (“The Force Awakens”, “Rogue One”, “The Last Jedi”, “Solo”, “Rise of the Skywalker”) and “The Batman” (2022). He also still does some military costuming for films like 1917 (2019).
Kate Hawley
Originally from New Zealand, Hawley had a heavy background in costuming for opera and theater before getting her big break in costumes for films. Her costume work in film can be seen in Peter Jackson’s films “The Lovely Bones” (2009) and “Mortal Engines” (2018), as well as the many films of Guillermo Del Toro which included “Pacific Rim” (2013) and “Crimson Peak” (2015). Her work on “Crimson Peak” led to her being nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Costume Design. Kate has been called upon many times for sci-fi and fantasy productions, evident from being a costume designer on “Edge of Tomorrow” (2014) and “Chaos Walking” (2021). Her latest work is now focusing more on television. Her latest costume design job was on the Lord of the Rings series “The Rings of Power” (2022) and her upcoming project is the Dune spin-off series, The Sisterhood.
Gábor Homonnay
Born in Budapest, Gábor first got his start in film with a minor role in “Angyalbőrben”. While his acting career didn’t take off, his career in costuming soared. He would become a costume designer and supervisor on a number of short films and TV series during the 2000s. By 2011, he got his big break working on the Budapest division for the film “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”. From there, he became a top name for costumes in big movies that come to Hungary for filming. His resume for those types of films includes “47 Ronin” (2013), “Spy” (2015), “The Martian” (2015), “Inferno” (2016), and “Red Sparrow” (2018). He’s become more notable for TV series, having worked on “Emerald City” (2017), “Into The Badlands” (2017), and “Halo” (2022).
