“I’ve been thinking for a long time, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have an exhibition?’” says costume designer Sandy Powell, whose numerous credits include Shakespeare In Love, most of Martin Scorsese’s recent output and the upcoming Snow White . But, for the three-time Oscar and BAFTA winner — and double Costume Designers Guild Award recipient — a career retrospective isn’t necessarily about flexing. She just wants to share.
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“Because I have quite a large collection of my own costumes, which I’ve been sneakily collecting over the years,” says Powell, with a smile. So, when the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) came calling “out of the blue,” she immediately jumped on board.
“To get the conversation started, I met Sandy in person a few times, including teatime in London,” says Rafael Gomes, curator and creative director for SCAD FASH museums. He then held regular Zoom meetings with the world-traveling Powell to conceptualize Dressing the Part , running through March 16, 2025, at the SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film in Atlanta.
Spotlighting Powell’s 40-year-strong career, the exhibition will feature more than 70 costumes from nearly 30 films. “We have iconic pieces,” says Gomes, emphasizing a special focus on Powell’s Oscar-winning costumes pulled straight from her archives.
“All costume designers end up collecting pieces,” says Powell, 64. “Like, ‘I can’t throw that away. I can’t give that up. That will be useful one day.’”
She granted a treasure trove from 1998’s Shakespeare in Love , including Judi Dench’s majestically bejeweled Elizabeth I regalia and then-ingenue Gwyneth Paltrow’s romantic silver and yellow brocade gown to portray Viola de Lesseps — and the blue velvet doublet and breeches worn in disguise as Thomas Kent. Powell also offered royal finery from Jean-Marc Vallée’s 2009 historical drama, The Young Victoria , including four regal gowns illustrating the long reign of the British monarch played by Emily Blunt. From Scorsese’s 2004 biopic The Aviator , Powell kept the slinky silver lamé evening gown and fur-trimmed draped robe donned by Gwen Stefani’s Jean Harlow and a double-breasted peak lapel suit sported by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Howard Hughes.
“There are some pieces that have really brilliant cutting,” like Cate Blanchett’s (Katherine Hepburn) mustard yellow crepe sheath gown for The Aviator , says Powell, who wrapped Maggie Gyllenhaal’s ‘30s-set The Bride over the summer. The exhibit offers the rare opportunity for visitors to analyze intricate details and skilled craftsmanship up close, rather than catching a quick flash onscreen.
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With respect to the looks from 2018’s Mary Poppins Returns , Powell hopes visitors will appreciate the vivid, watercolor-like painting — her pitch , by the way. The technique created a spirited trompe l’oeil 2D-effect on the Edwardian ensembles for Blunt, as the titular magical nanny, and cast in the fantastical “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” number. ( The Walt Disney archives loaned Mary Poppins’ signature blue caped-coat and red hat ensemble worn by Blunt on the movie poster, too.) Powell also highlights the gritty mid-19th century costumes from Scorcese’s 2002 historical epic, Gangs of New York . “The aging, dyeing and breaking down — and the [intense] work that’s gone into them — are good to see close up,” she says.
Powell’s renowned work from period pieces also includes the Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst-starring Interview With the Vampire , spanning the 18th to early-20th centuries; Yorgos Lanthimos’ early-1700s England-set, The Favourite ; and the circa-1950s tearjerker, Living , which garnered Powell the a SCAD Creative Impact in Costume Design award in 2022. However, Dressing the Part also showcases Powell’s inventive, and sometimes otherworldly, mélange of eras. For instance, in 2017’s sci-fi teen romance, How to Talk to Girls at Parties , Elle Fanning’s alien love interest enchants in a yellow futuristic latex-meets-’70s punk ensemble, while Nicole Kidman, as subversive Queen Boudicca, intimidates in a mix of Vivienne Westwood, Elizabeth I and warrior references.
“Celebrating Sandy Powell’s contribution to film design and history, Dressing the Part will transport museum guests and students to the cinema,” explains Gomes, who previously co-curated SCAD FASH Atlanta’s Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design (2021) and Dressing for Dystopia: The Handmaid’s Tale Costumes by Ane Crabtree . “The space is designed to have an immersive feel with dark lighting and vignettes [of the film’s characters] framed with black boxes to mimic movie screens.”
“It’s going to be a little bit CinemaScope,” says Powell, comparing the captivating museum experience to the revolutionary widescreen technology harnessed by mid-century epics like Ben-Hur and The Sound of Music . “How [seeing the exhibit] makes you feel emotionally is quite important.” Within each storytelling “tableau,” the costumed figures will be positioned in expressive and “interactive” manners — as if caught mid-act during a powerful scene. “This isn’t fashion,” says Powell. “This is costume and it’s about character.”
But exhibiting costumes offers a unique challenge, as on-screen wardrobe is made-to-measure to each actor’s shape and height. So, in a reverse process, standard dress forms are custom-fit to the clothing, requiring substantial “ mannequinage , or mannequin manipulation,” says Gomes. Supported by his team and SCAD student docents, he performs a surgical procedure of sorts; incising cotton-canvas covered dress forms and layering and sculpting the styrofoam innards.
A documentary film featuring interviews with Powell, her frequent collaborators Blanchett and Julianne Moore and members of her trusted team, including costume designer Christopher Peterson and assistant Charlotte Law, will accompany the exhibition. “It’s a huge collaboration that gets the costumes onto the screen,” says Powell.
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