Quotes from Colleen Atwood

Costume, hair and makeup can tell you instantly, or at least give you a larger perception of who a character is. It's the first impression that you have of the character before they open their mouth, so it really does establish who they are.

In Chicago, I walked in knowing what the dancers were going to need.

Each simian had a much different body suit, so besides trying to define class across species, there was a definite attempt to dress each group in different styles.

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.

If you want someone to feel warm, you dress them in a warm color and put a warm light on them and you get the picture. Sometimes, all that needs pushing a little bit to help tell the story.

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.

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.

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?

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

As a designer, you have to solve a lot of problems. Even though people are wearing clothes that are supposed to look beautiful, they'll have to do all kinds of things.

The costumes had to serve the choreography.

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.

In real life, a lot of people at that level will have their kimonos made especially for them.

The thing that's great about being a costume designer is you never know what's going to be next; you never what world you are going to enter.

I love designing costumes that I can actually construct, working to create an environment that people want to be in.

The right costume determines the character, helps the actor feel who he is, and serves the story.

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.

I'd seen the current stage production and the 1975 production of Chicago. I liked them both very much, but I didn't use them necessarily as inspiration.

I'd say probably the most expensive costumes I've ever made were the costumes in 'The Planet of the Apes,' because of the research and development that went into them and the amount of layers.

It's often said that costume designers are a faceless group of people. But we can contribute to fashion in a way that might be new and different.

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.

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 the costume in this form is on the actor, you have a sense of their connection with it. I then take it to the next level with the final fit.

I get more distracted by hair or a really bad wig than I do costumes any day of the week.

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 fountain of ideas for me.