We’re approaching the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter release. Since then, there have been seven additions to the book series, eight films released, a Harry Potter world at DisneyWorld and an over $25 billion dollar franchise. It takes a village to raise a child, and Harry Potter had some of the most praised crew members to ensure its success, like costume designer Jany Tamime. Her resume even holds other big box office films including Spectre, Skyfall, Gravity, and Passengers .
Last week, we chatted with the costume designer of six of the Harry Potter films about her designing process, her love of Prismacolor when sketching, and young stars vs. seasoned actors.
Can you tell us a little bit about the process from when you get the project, to how you do the research, the sketching, and so on?
It all depends. Usually you get a script and you read the script. And then you start designing a little bit, you know, what you want. I would say you don’t really start sketching straight away because it’s too far already in the process. The first things you do are sort of mood boards because you have to present it to the director. If you just do a few sketches, he won’t get any idea about it. You better give him references, or give her, references which are much more precise. References with other films, if it is a franchise or with other costume that you may like. You do it with a mood board, and then you get into the feeling of it.
Then after that, I start designing. And what I wanted to express, because that’s very important …I got a box of [Prismacolor Soft Core Colored Pencils] and I had to sketch those designs with the pencil set. So I started using the wide variety of colors and and discovering the possibilities that I was given. You see, I’m not an illustrator but I have 50 people who have to work under me. Those 50 people are there to help me to create each one of the costumes. In order of doing that, I’ve got to feed them.
So once you’ve done the mood board and sketches, what happens?
The first thing, and the most important thing, will be to find the fabric. Something that nobody thinks about, but which is a very sad reality of all those big action films, you never need one costume. It would be so easy when you could just go around and find an old fabric and be happy with three yards. It’s never like that. We make multiples, because each one of the costume have to be … to have repeats. You shoot with one to three units, not at the same time. Then the costume is damaged then you have … Or not damaged or burned or whatever. Then you have stand-ins … I mean it’s a lot of things. It looks like one but actually you make a minimum of 10, a maximum of 30 of the same costume. And you never see it. You will never think that, “It’s not the same lady.”
On Harry Potter, Harry had 30 repeats of the same jacket, because it was never him, because we were shooting so many units. Also because that jacket was clean, dirty, burned, broken, damage, then it was the first, or the second, the third, the stand-in, the thing, you know. So, anyway, you need a lot of them.
Tell us about the fabric sourcing.
You have to send your costume buyers to look for fabric. Because you need 200 meters. And when you start looking for 200 meters, you can’t go to a nice little shop or little antique market and get a little piece of something. You need to have (grunts to demonstrate heavy lifting). And you need to have it very short-term because, of course, all castings and all preps of films are not made like a normal fashion collection, which goes from one year to another, and they can go in to a nice place and order their fabric. Not us. So always the last minute and it’s always very late and you are asking impossibilities to fabric until fabric.
I immediately put colors and explain by choosing little pieces of fabric just the sort of feel of what I want. Then I send my fabric shopper because I know that is going to be the difference of having that costume ready in months, if I’m lucky. In a week, if I am terribly unlucky. So this is the first thing.
When for instance I’m designing that, I just want to have a chiffon to show that I want a floaty fabric. That I want those different colors being in it, and then they can go and look for it, you know. That’s why I need colors and mixture of colors and that’s why it was very handy to have that. The second thing, which is quite important, is to be able to show the shapes of what you want. Because the second stage is to have the pattern-cutter start making the pattern. You should know the shape of what you want and how it should move. When I’m designing, I show that I want some body fat and that doesn’t mean that the actress will be fat; we can do padding. Half of the actors which you see which are fat, they are never fat, you know? Because they always have padding, especially for film like Harry Potter, and all like character film. Those films because those were sketches made for the Bond girl. That’s a lot easier. You know? Because they do have sort of normal size. But we always offer thighs, you know? We always … But, it’s very important for a pattern-cutter to know in which direction which shape of body I will … which shape of, you know, what I want to express. The shape is very important, that’s why I’m doing the first … This is very important for the preparation work. When this starts going, then you can go more into the details. You see what are they bringing for fabric and then you start seeing the twirl of the costume, see if it hangs the way you want it to hang. So, you show that “I wanted those two points here” and how the points have to fall, you know what I mean?
You start getting into detail. But you have straight away to start feeding them.
Sometimes products get discontinued. Are there any tools or brands that you always have to have when you’re designing or just in the process of?
I get very hooked on my little colors, because when you start working with it, you know what works. You know what I’m saying? And that’s easy. And then, what I discovered also is that you can erase that.
Oh, you can erase these?
Yeah, yeah. This is such a plus. (Points to sketches) Do you see? You see how OCD I am about the first one. Colors are the first thing that you see, or even a non-color is the first thing that you see. It’s extremely important to get because, when you create a scene, you know that what people see straight away is a lady in pink fighting against a man in blue. Honestly, this is the first impact is the color of impact. It’s extremely important. It’s extremely important to go straight away about colors and opposition of colors. You can never design one costume individually. It’s always one costume in opposition of another and another and another in that background.
So the fact that you can have immediately, like a little puzzle, you know what is going to be the feeling of your scene. Then you can show that to the director and you can express it.
So it’s the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter, and you designed for six of the films. How have you differentiated the costumes as the actors aged?
Well, that was getting more and more difficult because when I got them they were, like, 14. No … Yes, they were 14 but they were well-educated 14. And English. You know, the English they used to a certain discipline at school. And they are used to having uniforms, so they don’t care. Everybody is a set in the uniform. It’s when they started growing up. When I had a really bad time is when they were going 15, 16 and they were starting to say, “No.” I said, “What do you mean, ‘No’?” And that was the girl. Hermione, that was really, like – because was she starting becoming more and more successful and, you know she had to play a little girl. I remember going to her lodge and she had all those dresses of Chanel, which were arriving for her, and I was there with my little jeans, you know? And that terrible little t-shirt. So it was quite (laughs)… But she was intelligent.
I would say, “Listen. You are, Hermione. You wear that for your premiere. You wear that.” But she was, like, making this little crisis. The other kids, the one who was always fantastic was Ron. Because from the beginning on it was … he’s a comic. So he was used to look bad. I was looking at him thinking, “How can I? Oh my God. How can you look like that?” The trousers, the shoulder thing. You know? I mean, when they at an age there they want to flirt with the other kids and then, you know – a bunch of teenagers. Then you have one and he always looked terrible. And then … But he was taking it quite well.
By the third film, they were my kids. I remember when we were doing the Yule Ball. The girls, they were so happy to have long dresses. It was like – it was incredible. That’s when they started really flirting and kissing behind the pillars.
Your resume is quite extensive. Were there any films that allowed you to use your creativity more than another? Or were there any films that you preferred over another?
There are films where you know that you have to be … Well, you always have to be creative. That’s why you are asked for, but you can be creative in aesthetical way. You can be creative in a comical way. You can be creative in an intellectual way. You have different way of expressing your creativity. On Harry Potter we had to be … Harry Potter was a great project to do, because that was so many different side of it. You had an aesthetic side, a magical side … You had different things, you know? You had different characters; each character was illuminating in a different way. So it was not for each one of them … And I always kept it light, because it’s in my personality. I think that people should always see the happy side of life, you know? So even if Harry Potter was quite tragic, I was always thinking “Out of the three character, we have one who has to be pretty, one who has to be wise, and one who has to be a comical thing.” So out of the three I always had, a sort of balance.
Your most recent film “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool”… how was working with Annette Benning and the entire cast and crew?
Oh, she’s fantastic. And her husband, oh! I had dinner with her and her husband. Yes, what great couple.
So how was, like, the costume design on that? I think it’s a little different from Specter …
Do you know when you have an actress like that; half of your job is done. I’m much better working for an actress who has a career behind and know exactly. Annette doesn’t care to be pretty. She wants to be the part. What is much more difficult is when you have a young actress and she wants to be a star. And then, she has a tendency of thinking, especially nowadays, much more of Instagram than to think about the part. Because she knows that there will be less people … This is a little bit the problem of the social medias and film. They know they will have much more viewers with the picture next to the film than the film in itself. They know that they have to have a part, they know that. But they also know that what they will wear for the premiere is important.
Which started also with what I was telling you, it started with Hermione when she was a young girl and she was starting getting out of the character because of all this couturier position. I think now it’s more and more. I much prefer working with an established actress with Academy Awards who knows their job, than to have a young starlet. Those are difficult.
Yeah. I think of Kiernan Shipka from Mad Men. As she started growing into her character everyone wanted to dress her. So, though she’s talented, I think people focused more on, what she was wearing, where she was going, you know?
Exactly. And that’s more important than the part. The part is actually, sort of a platform to get the rest, because the big money comes from the rest. You do have very talented actresses as well. Who understand that and you know … I mean, I was doing … When I’m doing the Bond, you know, for instance, it was every time I had Lea Seydoux, which is a great French actress. I remember she was always saying, “I can get you that. I can get you that.” Then I said, “No! We won’t have Miu Miu. We won’t have Prada. Because you are a psycholog. Okay, you happen to be a super sexy psycholog falling in love with Daniel Craig, okay. That’s a sideline, but you are supposed to be a psycholog; and you are dressed up like one. So forget about it.” And it took her half an hour to forget about it.
But, I will say that, for instance, somebody like Monica Bellucci … You know, she arrived and she said, “I need those underwear. I need those underwear. I need these things. I need that girdle and that foundation. I need that.” You know she knows. She knows.
You can tell that Monica knows too, because even during Cannes she always looks the part. She’s never trying to be the girl whose wearing a leather jacket on the red carpet. She’s not looking for that.
Let me tell you a story. You know, usually we give UGG boots to our actress to walk from the trailer to the set. So we went, you know, the wardrobe girl, you know, was coming. So the dresser with the UGG boots. And Monica said, “What’s that?” And we said, “Well, it’s comfort shoes to walk from the trailer.” She said, “No, no, no, no.” She put on those 12 centimeter Louboutin in the early morning, 6:30, to cross the studio. And she did her entrance. Walking through the mud, she doesn’t care, not even – It’s not the mud but you know the set outside is the least glamorous thing in the world. Not Monica. She was in full glamour on those 12 centimeter (makes sashaying sounds) arriving. You know, looking at the electrician. Everybody was on the floor.
And I said to Monica, “Monica, you can walk with that?” She says, “Who, walk?” And I say, she doesn’t walk. She appears. I mean, you know. “Who walks?”
For anyone who wants to get into costuming design, what advice would you have on how to get started? Either education-wise, doing internships…
I think you really need to … You have to want it. You don’t happen to be. You have to be born thinking … You have to really want to do it, because it’s a very difficult job and it takes you years to become somebody that actors trust. It’s not a stylist. It’s a completely different thing. You need to have enough vision in yourself. Knowledge, cause you have to have knowledge on so many different things. Like, I’m doing cinema, and I know a lot about cinema, but I won’t be able to do … I mean, theater, I know less about theater.
So, I should say first you have to know where you want to specialize. Because knowing what you want to specialize in saves you time, and then, immediately, whatever you do, which academy you are doing it, because it’s very important to learn art. The most important is your personal education. Do as much as you can, as much research as you can, and as quick as possible, training. Training, training, training. Get on films right away. Whatever you do on that film, you will learn about it.
Then work with people that you love and that you respect and that you enjoy, and learn from them. Learn from them. I should say, immediately get into it, because it’s a job that you learn by doing it. I always advise that when I take, always, trainees and I teach them and I see how they are. I can tell after few weeks if they have it or they don’t have it; because it’s also a very giving job. It’s not about you, it’s about them.
I always say we are a service department. She doesn’t like the shoes, give her other shoes; she has to walk. Her entrance is more important than yours should be. You have also to have that sort of personality and also being able to, be on a team. It’s teamwork. So you need to have the quality of a team person.
Can you walk us through the designs a bit, and tell why you prefer Prismacolor?
When I started it, I really wanted to have something that was slightly ’60s. Something like the old styles. Because I think this is always the best for Bond, to have that traditional glamour. And then, I thought traditional glamour, if I think about the ’50s, the ’60s. I want to have a chiffon, and I want to have a chiffon with different color.
And I am really, really pleased with the Soft Core Colored Pencils. (points to Prismacolor pencils) Look. One, two, three, four, five. Five different shades of purple that you can seamlessly blend together. You can blend one on top of another. You can put them one next to each other. The green the same. One, two, three, four, five colors of turquoise that you can blend and put next to each other.
You know? The range of color is really incredible. And it’s not because … Well, obviously you blend when you put them on top of each other, but it takes you six minutes, because you have such a variety of color options. The range of color and also the fact that you can erase them – this is like a gift for us illustrators. When you think, “Well, maybe not that brush stroke”. You canactually erase it and put in another color in instead. It’s very, very easy. And it’s very, very quick on top of everything; you have a great skin color. And that’s my love. I mean, for me, which I’m not an illustrator; I’m somebody who does that, you know, quickly, to be able to have people working. And this is a fantastic skin color. Incredible! Incredible. I have that, and I have that for little bit, that one, little bit darker. But that skin color and that skin color for a little bit of makeup. Fantastic. So that’s for me, a gift.
Do you ever use the felt tips?
Yes I do. I much prefer pencil, but I use this kit, which have great colors. It’s not like you have the kid’s color. You have fantastic colors. So I use that to do the little necklace. All those little details. The necklace, the earrings, you know. When you want to put a little, little, little details. A line would be too harsh, for me, but the details, when you want to put … I used it on that one, when I wanted to design the little necklace details. It’s very handy, because the point is extremely thin.
(starts drawing in details on sketches) Yeah. Yeah. Look at that. Look at that, you know? Look at that. Look at how beautiful. They are grown-up colors. No, but, I mean – usually what you get for that, they are colors for kids, to design a house with a roof. But this is not. This is … Those are fashionable colors. So, that’s why this is important.
You know what’s interesting, the moment you put it down, it’s soft. You know what I mean? Cause I feel regular colored pencils are almost like writing with a regular pencil. It’s very harsh.
This is for coloring, yeah, yeah, yeah. Prismacolor Soft Core Colored pencils are very easy to blend compared to other brands. They have thick cores and soft lead that creates bold colors and saturation. But like I said, you know, they are fashionable colors. And this is what makes it so good for us. Like, you have a turquoise, which is a special turquoise. There’s green, cause I wanted her in green. I was inspired for Professor Trelawney. I love Professor Trelawney… I loved her from the beginning on, and I wanted the color for her which are a little bit odd. And then, look at that! This is that green, here. This is that. This is those two. They are there! They are there! You know, and that’s fantastic.