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Colleen Atwood Research Paper

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The costume designer I chose is Colleen Atwood. While she hasn’t designed for the stage, Colleen Atwood’s career spans 53 films in the last three decades. Alongside that, she’s been nominated for 11 Oscars, and out of those nominations, she’s won 3. Considering the fact that, according to Caroline Ryder (Citizens of Humanity), she set out to be a painter and an art teacher when she was a teenager, that’s quite a feat. Atwood attended Cornish College in Seattle, Washington to study painting. While attending Cornish College, she gained experience in the fashion industry by working in an Yves Saint Laurent boutique in the northwest chain store, Frederick & Nelson. She didn’t graduate from Cornish, but did move to New York City, where she studied at New York University. …show more content…

Her job has taken her from L.A. to Paris and to Turkey and Thailand. She frequently collaborates with director Tim Burton and has worked numerous times with actor Johnny Depp. Her design philosophy seems deeply rooted in research. According to an interview with Kristopher Tapley, when she works a period film, Atwood starts ‘with the base and the architecture and design of the period’. Depending on what sources she has to draw from for the film, she can find inspiration in numerous places, such as libraries, museums, fabric stores, or just about anywhere, according to Sheila Roberts. Another key to her success is the frequent use of collaborations with everyone; from the actors to the directors, and to the story (Caroline Ryder, Citizens of

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