We had the pleasure of talking with three great costume designers who were selected to be nominated for Best Costume Design at the upcoming Goya Awards gala that is to be held in Seville on Saturday, February 2nd.
We were very interested in having to first-hand information about the development of those projects in which they have collaborated with Peris Costumes as well as their expectations and feelings regarding their nomination.
MERCÉ PALOMA NOMINATED FOR “EL FOTÓGRAFO DE MAUTHAUSEN” DIRECTED BY MAR TARGARONA.
Mercè, the awesome Costume Designer who has already 4 nominations to the Goya Awards, acknowledges that this award would make her very happy.
About “The Photographer of Mauthausen”, she explains that that, despite the fact that at first it might seem an easy project, having to deal with two main objectives was very much complicated: “One goal was to make a believable story since, after all it is a real story. The director wanted to show a real picture of Francesc Boix on the screen, and matching the character to the real picture was not an easy job. On the other hand, we faced the challenge of getting the characters out of that uniformity (they all wore the striped pajamas typical of the concentration camps) so a whole line of nuances and details was opened for these characters to stand out with their own references “.
With regards to her thoughts on the filimg, Mercè highlights how the devastating topic of the movie affected them psychologically and how complicated was to shoot the scenes of the colorful party celebration that was full of flowers during a snowy day in Budapest. Mercè also talks with us about some of the references she has used as sources of inspiration when she works: “I’m not very much inspired by other costume designs for various productions, although they are wonderful, but rather, I get inspired when I visit museums and look at the paintings. I deeply admire textiles and fabrics as well and, quite often, only a fabric can suggest you the form it needs to be in.”
ANA LÓPEZ COBOS NOMINATED FOR “QUIEN TE CANTARÁ” DIRECTED FOR CARLOS VERMUT.
Ana López, a young and talented costume designer, specialized in theatre and movies, admits that she learned about the nomination thanks to a whassap message that a friend sent her. “If I was awarded the Goya” says Ana “I would be extremely happy; I already feel like I am on a honeymoon ever since I found out about the nomination and I feel very lucky because at the moment I’m working on another project, “Salir del Ropero”. The nomination has already made me very happy and, of course, I would be delighted to be selected for the Award for Best Costume Design.”
“For Lila’s character in “QUIEN TE CANTARÁ“, the challenge was to portray the character’s psychology through the costumes. We were very inspired by singers and artists of the time such as Mina and even Rocío Jurado. However, we did not use movie characters as a reference; for us it was more about looking for sensations, fabrics and colors, “says Ana.
In addition, she also talks about the great work of tailoring new pieces: “Many costumes were made specifically for the character since we needed to show the intimacy of Lila on one hand, (with tracksuits and pajamas reflecting the period of her illness until she begins to remember) and, on the other hand, we also worked on the costumes that depicted Lila as a diva. The character that Lila is looking up to is her mother. For this reason, we used clothes with V necklines and straight shoulders, more so Armani style; We were looking for a setting representing the 80s and 90s. The goal was to show what his mother would have looked like and reinterpret that for her. ”
LENA MOSSUM NOMINATED FOR DENOMINARTE FOR “EL HOMBRE QUE MATÓ A DON QUIJOTE” DIRECTED BY TERRY GILLIAM.
Lena explains that winning a Goya is always a fantastic experience (Lena already obtained the Goya for “Las 13 Rosas” in 2008) and that, in addition to a recognition of her work that she feels she is in love with, the award also opens many opportunities especially in the international market. Regarding his inspiration for “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote”, Lena says: “My main inspiration is Terry Gilliam. He is a brilliant man, a wonderful crazy man. Besides, there is also a lot of inspiration in the engravings of Gustavo Doré and in a book about the folk festivals of Spain with wonderful pictures. This book was an important source of inspiration for the medieval festival. ”
Lena also provides us with more details on the process of making costumes for this production: “Terry loves thinking freely and creatively. When I told him my idea for the “Knight of the Mirrors”, he loved it. My idea was to use CD’s instead of mirrors. They burst in all colors and light when the sun reflects on them. For this same character we created a helmet with horns. Being a Spanish story, I did not want to put any horn, and after seeing many different ones, I really wanted some bull horns. In the end, we had to make it with some false horns (they were a really good copy of the real ones) because the helmet was too heavy and, when the specialist had to fall off a horse, it became real dangerous for him. We made the helmet using leather although it looks like metal. I know that Terry loved this design. ”
The shoes were custom-made, as well as the suit made of CDs and the helmet with horns, among other pieces. They were all handmade at the facilities of Peris Costumes in Madrid thanks to the dedicated and professional hands of our saddlery experts.
When it comes to Lena’s preferences when designing costumes, she´s always very interested in the period of time of the production: “It is always very interesting to recreate an era. I think that one of the reasons why I work in the cinema industry is because I love history. ”
It has been a real pleasure to collaborate with our costumes and services in these productions. They were all great challenges and that we were happy to develop with great enthusiasm. We would love to thank the three awesome costume designers who have counted on us for their projects and we wish them much success both at the Goya Awards celebration on February 2nd and throughout their professional career.