SCAD FASH Museum presents "Sandy Powell's Dressing the Part: Costume Design for Film"
Photo by Tim Walker
ATLANTA, GEORGIA — The Savannah College of Art and Design is thrilled to present Sandy Powell's Dressing the Part: Costume Design for Film, the debut U.S. exhibition for esteemed British costume designer Sandy Powell, at SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film in Atlanta. Curated by Rafael Gomes, creative director of SCAD FASH museums, the exhibition displays a vast array of genres, periods, and realities, showcasing Powell's inventive and dynamic work for films including Shakespeare in Love, The Favourite, Cinderella, The Wolf of Wall Street, and How to Talk to Girls at Parties. Opening Oct. 11, the exhibition welcomes cinephiles from around the world to Atlanta to bear witness to the Academy Award-winning costume designer's legacy of worldbuilding.
"With 15 Academy Award nominations and three wins to her name, designer Sandy Powell has masterfully costumed iconic films from Shakespeare in Love to The Wolf of Wall Street. Sandy is no stranger to SCAD — we have honored her at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, and I've welcomed her as a guest on my series On Creativity. Now, we bring our friendship full circle with Sandy Powell's Dressing the Part: Costume Design for Film. As one of Hollywood Reporter's top schools for costume design, and home to the only museum whose mission focuses exclusively on both fashion and film, SCAD provides the perfect set for her award-winning oeuvre in her first U.S. exhibition!"
PAULA WALLACE | SCAD President and Founder
Honored with three Oscars and the BAFTA Fellowship, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' highest honor, Powell is a formidable force in the world of filmmaking, recognized and celebrated at the highest level. Through her career-long partnerships with directors Martin Scorsese, Todd Haynes, Neil Jordan, and Derek Jarman and actors Cate Blanchett, Leonardo DiCaprio, Julianne Moore, and Tilda Swinton, Powell has contributed to the creation of iconic film characters. In a series of vignettes featuring more than 125 costumes from films such as Gangs of New York, Carol, Interview with a Vampire, The Young Victoria, The Aviator, The Other Boleyn Girl, Mary Poppins Returns, and Velvet Goldmine, SCAD FASH immerses viewers in Powell's nearly 40-year career.
"I am very excited that SCAD FASH has given me the opportunity to exhibit my first ever retrospective in the university's amazing museum in Atlanta. I hope that the carefully curated collection will serve to inspire students and aspiring costume designers in the same way I have been inspired by the ingenuity and creativity of the designers I have admired throughout my career."
SANDY POWELL
The exhibition also presents a new SCAD-produced documentary on Powell, highlighting how her collaborative spirit enriches her craft and proves essential to actors in discovering their characters and to directors in shaping their visions. The documentary film features interviews with her long-time technicians and collaborators, including Blanchett and Moore, providing an authentic look at Powell's creative process and her garments, which have helped define contemporary cinema.
"Celebrating Sandy Powell's immense contributions to film design and history, this exhibition will transport our viewers to the cinema. She is one of the greatest artisans working in film and her devotion to costume history, coupled with her visionary approach, has elevated some of the most unforgettable films over the past three decades. We are excited to be the first museum in the U.S. to present an exhibition of her work, and for the rich educational and cultural opportunity Dressing the Part: Costume Design for Film presents to our students and museum guests."
RAFAEL GOMES | Creative director of SCAD FASH museums
Sandy Powell's Dressing the Part: Costume Design for Film exemplifies SCAD's continued commitment to the art of costume design. The university is proud to expand and now offer its top-ranked production design and costume design degree programs in the prestigious SCAD School of Film and Acting at SCAD Atlanta. In October, during the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, the university will also unveil a magnificent new 17,500-square-foot production and costume design facility at SCAD's Savannah Film Studios. The state-of-the-art facility includes space for costume design sewing labs, an industrial garment conveyor, and 7,000 square feet of production design scene shops for building, welding, painting, and more. This facility highlights the university's dedication to collaborations across filmmaking disciplines. SCAD's Savannah Film Studios is the largest and most comprehensive film production complex in higher education. A previous esteemed guest of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, Powell was honored by the university with the inaugural Variety Creative Impact in Costume Design Award in 2022.
Sandy Powell's Dressing the Part: Costume Design for Film is on view Oct. 11, 2024 through March 16, 2025. For more information, visit scadfash.org.
ABOUT SANDY POWELL
Taught to use a sewing machine at a young age, Sandy Powell developed an early infatuation with fashion when she began making clothes for her dolls. Seduced by the aesthetics of film and stage as a teen, Powell realized her love of design could be combined with her interest in storytelling. Following her secondary education, she briefly attended Saint Martin's School of Art before entering the world of theater in collaboration with choreographer and dancer Lindsay Kemp. After branching into music videos, Powell designed costumes for Caravaggio, her first film with Derek Jarman, in 1986.
Throughout her career, Powell has designed for more than 50 films, from large-scale commercial ventures such as Disney's Cinderella and Mary Poppins Returns to period films The Young Victoria and The Favourite and indie productions Velvet Goldmine and Living. Across her career, Powell has received numerous awards, including three BAFTAs (Velvet Goldmine, The Young Victoria, The Favourite), three Academy Awards (Shakespeare in Love, The Aviator, The Young Victoria), and the Costume Designers Guild Career Achievement Award. In 2011 Powell was honored with the title of Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE).
SCAD FASH MUSEUM OF FASHION + FILM
SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film celebrates fashion as a universal language, garments as important conduits of identity, and film as an immersive and memorable medium. Situated within SCAD Atlanta, the museum presents dynamic exhibitions, captivating films, and enticing events that mine the rich and storied legacies of fashion history to inspire contemporary designers and future innovations. Supported by the university's strong global presence and connections to renowned contemporary fashion designers, filmmakers, and creative professionals around the world, SCAD FASH is an integral part of the SCAD educational experience.
Like the award-winning SCAD Museum of Art, SCAD FASH serves as a creative resource for students of all ages and a wellspring of inspiration for visitors. Through programming that engages the university's broad array of academic disciplines, SCAD FASH offers diverse exhibitions, films, installations, performances, and events to enliven and inspire the greater community year-round. Each program is designed to engage and appeal to visitors with varied backgrounds and interests, from textiles and jewelry to photography and film. Past exhibitions have featured the work of designers Christian Siriano, Robert Wun, Ruth E. Carter, Azzedine Alaïa, Pierre Cardin, Carolina Herrera, Mary Katrantzou, Guo Pei, and Oscar de la Renta. Photographic exhibitions have featured the work of Robert Fairer, Albert Watson, Jonathan Becker, Bill Cunningham, and Omar Victor Diop. Exhibitions are accompanied by curated film series that complement programming. Past SCAD commissioned films include Pierre Cardin: Le Futur, The First Monday in May, Funny Face, The Leopard, and Ovation for Oscar, among others. Visit scadfash.org.
SCAD: THE UNIVERSITY FOR CREATIVE CAREERS
SCAD is a private, nonprofit, accredited university, offering more than 100 graduate and undergraduate degree programs across locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia; Lacoste, France; and online via SCADnow. SCAD enrolls more than 18,500 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 110 countries. The future-minded SCAD curriculum engages professional-level technology and myriad advanced learning resources, affording students opportunities for internships, professional certifications, and real-world assignments with corporate partners through SCADpro, the university's renowned research lab and prototype generator. SCAD has earned top rankings for degree programs in interior design, architecture, film, fashion, digital media, and more. Career success is woven into every fiber of the university, resulting in a superior alumni employment rate. A 2024 study found that 99% of recent SCAD graduates were employed, pursuing further education, or both within 12 months of graduation. SCAD provides students and alumni with ongoing career support through personal coaching, alumni programs, a professional presentation studio, and more. Visit scad.edu.
Media contact
Scottie Walden Albertson
Senior Director of Public Relations
[email protected]
JJ Maxwell
Associate Vice President, PR + Marketing
[email protected]