Quotes

[on persuading director Iain Softley to change the time of the setting from 1902 to 1910 for The Wings of the Dove (1997)] "And besides, every Merchant-Ivory film is set in 1902, and I wanted the costumes to look different."

Unless of course the film requires it, I'm not interested in an exact replica of the period. I look at the period, how it should be, how it could be, and then I do my own version. [Time, 22 Feb, 1999]

"It was different. Tom Cruise was lovely to me, but there were many discussions about his height in relation to Brad Pitt's. There are always vanity concerns" [on working on Interview with the Vampire (1994)].

[on inventing her own design for the historical drama Rob Roy (1995)] It was very difficult to find an original tartan dating back to the period that the director liked the looks of, and it was easier to make one up so it wouldn't be wrong. In that day and age, tartans didn't exist as we know them. The tartans were earthy and designs were simple. [New York Times, 21 May 1995]

Sandy's great gift is her ability to make historical costumes look contemporary. She manages to be both true to the period and modern. -- Harvey Weinstein

I suppose one of the earliest [films] I remember being impressed by was Death in Venice [Death in Venice (1971)]. I must have been about 13 when I saw that at school, and it was one of those films where me and all my school friends went back time and time again to see it. And then there were the Derek Jarman films, ... Jubilee (1978) and The Tempest (1979). They inspired me to give him a call, rather naively! I thought, 'That's the person I want to work with. I'll give him a call.'" [interview for the BBC Web site, 2 Sept. 1999]

There's a beauty in dirt. When I go to the movies, I think, 'Why is that dress so clean? The boat is going down and they look perfect.' You want to have beauty in a film, but if something looks a bit worn, a bit soiled, it usually has more depth. [New York Times Magazine, Dec. 20, 1998]

A costume designer's contribution is to help make some believable characters, that's all.

There is obviously more vintage stuff in America. It's a bigger country. There are even people who collect and sell and deal vintage underwear, which was useful to use or copy. The girdles and all that stuff you can still buy. Big old American ladies wear them.

From an early age I loved clothes, but I didn't want to be a fashion designer because that is just about clothes.

It's really difficult to get hold of old fabrics now, so I sometimes have to use new fabrics, but I can always tell the difference. They don't have the same weight, they don't hang, and you can't do the same cut with those clothes.

Underwear is the most important thing. It provides the silhouette for everything that goes on top.

I don't know why but quite often, when you are having a really good time on a film, it doesn't turn out that well. The best films come out of torture and drama.

[speaking live at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, April, 2014] I think I'd be bored if I couldn't use color. I've never worked on a film in black-and-white. I'd be really interested to do that because you'd be looking at tone as opposed to color, which I think is really interesting. But I just get so much joy out of color.

As a costume designer, you need to be able to sew. Not be the greatest tailor or sewer in the world but you have to know how things are constructed otherwise you can't talk to your tailors and your cutters and your seamstresses. You have to be able to understand their job to tell them what to do. You can't just not have any knowledge of construction.

Wow. Well, I already have two of these, so I'm feeling greedy. I'd like to dedicate this one to the costume designers that don't do movies about dead monarchs or glittery musicals. The designers that do the contemporary films and the low-budget ones that actually don't get as recognized, and they should do and they work as hard. So this is for you, but I'm gonna take it home tonight. Thank you.