Italy may be struggling in renewing its established tradition of fashion designers with new and exciting young figures. Things look a bit easier, though, when it comes to the costume design category: despite the opera and theatre crises, there is a new star on the rise Carlo Poggioli.
After studying stage and costume design in Naples, Poggioli moved to Rome where he started working as assistant on opera and theatre productions and film sets, collaborating with Gabriella Pescucci, Piero Tosi and Maurizio Millenotti among the others. Through his work as assistant and associate costume designer, Poggioli developed the skills to go solo on James McTeigue's The Raven (2012), Mikael Håfström's The Rite (2011), Dominic Sena's Season of the Witch (2011) and Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna (2008).
Recent films such as Carlo Carlei's Romeo & Juliet (the first film from Swarovski Entertainment Ltd, the crystal giant's new film division), Terry Gilliam's The Zero Theorem (2013) and Neil Burger's Divergent (2014) proved Poggioli has developed his own style and technique, and, while he seems to have a soft spot for fantasy, he is also capable of injecting a healthy dose of modernity in the costumes for period dramas and of creating a credible (and desirable) wardrobe for the futuristic and dystopic stories favoured by many young film fans.
What prompted you to become a costume designer?
Carlo Poggioli: I nurtured this passion from a young age: I love opera and theatre and, as a child, I used to build theatre sets and create the costumes for my marionettes. I was madly in love with this world, even though I didn't have anybody in my family who came from this background. I was always convinced I was going to become a costume - and not a fashion - designer.
You recently designed costumes for The Zero Theorem by Terry Gilliam, how did you meet him?
Carlo Poggioli: I met Terry Gilliam when I was 26 years old. I had moved to Rome from Naples after my studies and I had met costume designer Gabriella Pescucci, becoming her assistant on films such as Jean-Jacques Annaud's The Name of the Rose, Ettore Scola's La famiglia (The Family), and then on The Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Terry Gilliam. That was my first great experience, and Terry, Gabriella, and I regrouped for the very unlucky and unfinished feature film project The Man who Killed Don Quixote. I continued working with them on the costumes for The Brothers Grimm with Matt Damon and Heath Ledger and I also collaborated with Terry on "The Secret Tournament", a big advertising campaign for Nike for the 2002 World Championships. We always had a good time together and we kept in touch throughout the years.
How was it working with Gilliam on The Zero Theorem?
Carlo Poggioli: Working with him is great, because he always comes up with some crazy and fantastic ideas. I consider myself a craftsman at the service of a director: I try and respect the script that one director gives me, and put into practice an idea or a vision through my taste and knowledge. With this film we had to face quite a few challenges as the budget was low and we didn't have much money for the costumes. But you know how they say - low on resources, high on resourcefulness - and we ended up developing a lot of great ideas. We started thinking about costumes for a fantasy world, and tried to guess how fashion would be like in future by focusing on what's already happening with all these synthetic and high-tech materials on the market. This concept seemed to go pretty well with Terry's vision, so what you see in the film is our interpretation of what may be happening in the world and what is already happening nowadays in the fashion industry as well. In The Zero Theorem everything is computerised, so we decided to use a lot of shiny and glossy plastic-based textiles, such as shower curtains and plasticised tablecloths with floral or bright motifs, rubbery fabrics for jackets with a latex effect. The best thing was that these materials also worked pretty well with the lights, so they looked good on the screen. We found all these fabrics in Romania where the film was also shot, though everything is transformed and altered and you can't really recognise the spaces and places.
Was it difficult to actually work with such materials?
Carlo Poggioli: You must still know the techniques to actually use them and have special machines, but we found them in Romania since they are used to do this kind of work.
Apart from futuristic plastic materials, you also opted for a camouflage effect for Matt Damon's character...
Carlo Poggioli: We dressed Matt Damon completely in plastic-based textiles, a lot of them were actually too warm, but the final result was amazing. Starring in the role of Management he had to camouflage himself everywhere he was, so we worked out suits that perfectly matched with the curtains, or with the armchair where he was sitting. This chameleon look hits the eye in a visually clever way.
Though the materials were cheap in some cases you seemed to reference Haute Couture silhouettes or designers, for example in the tweed sets donned by Dr Shrink-Rom (Tilda Swinton), was that intentional?
Carlo Poggioli: That was the funny bit – mixing particular shapes with cheap materials to obtain a very interesting result. Poor materials and grand silhouettes always create exciting contrasts.
Fashion quite often borrows from cinema, do you think we will see some of your designs on the runways?
Carlo Poggioli: I already saw some ideas replicated on the runways after the Autumn/Winter 2014 shows from the raincoats in similar fabrics to the camouflage/chameleon inspiration. I guess we will see more in future, it always happens...
Are there any art inspirations behind The Zero Theorem?
Carlo Poggioli: Terry is one of the few directors who has a visual culture, but also a vast knowledge when it comes to art and painting in particular. He seems to know every single artist - mention him a painter from the 1500s or the 1600s or a modern painter and he knows their work. I once went to visit him at his house and it was scary to see the quantity of books he has, it's simply amazing, but there are book shelves even in the bathroom. While working on the film he pointed me towards the art of German painter Neo Rauch and he proved a very good inspiration for colours and shapes. Rauch mixes in his works different eras such as at the '40s with modern nuances and figures, or the 1900s with figures that call to mind the '70s, creating an unsettling dreamscape that is part history and part mythic fantasy and that is characterised by a rich palette. I found this strange combination and juxtaposition of different decades a good starting point for my research.
Terry Gilliam's film was essentially a fantastic films, but you also work on period dramas. Do you find it easier to make the costumes for this film genre since you have precise historical references?
Carlo Poggioli: Fantastic films surely grant you more freedom, but I recently worked also on Romeo & Juliet directed by Carlo Carlei with an exceptional cast that included Douglas Booth and Paul Giamatti among the others. It was a completely different experience as you may guess, but, even when I work on period dramas, I try to make things a little bit more modern looking. In this case the men's jackets and pants are characterised by a modern silhouettes. While I do like to modernise history, these elements help you making the film more appealing to a younger audience and I think it worked as the actors and the extras kept on telling me they loved their costumes so much they would have liked to wear them to go out drinking!
Which film costumes drove you crazy?
Carlo Poggioli: The ones for Neil Burger's Divergent, starring Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Kate Winslet. In this case we had to focus on a not so distant future and imagine how Chicago would have looked like in 60-70 years' time, in a society divided into five factions - Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless, and Erudite. I was afraid I would have ended up creating something that could have borrowed from the usual futuristic sci-fi films, and there are millions out there, all with characters wearing more or less the same uniforms. I filtered my vision through the novel by Veronica Roth as the book contains some hints that I had to keep in mind, but it was still difficult because there are five different factions, each of them dressed in a different way that follows a precise colour-coded system. So for Abnegation we opted for shades of grey and natural and plain fibres; for Dauntless the palette was prevalently black, but the patterns were more functional and included a lot of pockets for the objects the members of the faction carry around with them. Blue is the Erudite colour, and their clothes are characterised by a sharp silhouette based on a tailored version of the classic laboratory coat; Candor's garments are simple and plain in black and white, but they are embellished by stitches in contrasting colours and for Amity we opted for a natural earth palette and fabrics such as cotton and linen. I also had to make sure that the vision I was going to create through my costumes was going to be interesting for young people and I think I managed to, because the book fans loved the silhouettes and trends in this film and Lionsgate would like to do a line of clothes inspired by Divergent.
Will the line of clothes be released under your name?
Carlo Poggioli: No, not really because the rights do not belong to me, as it is difficult to get them, but for the time being it's OK because I don't really want to be a fashion designer. That said, it was an interesting process to see how the company wanted to get the rights of the pattern for specific garments like the trousers, but also of details such as the pockets.
Where did you produce the costumes for Divergent?
Carlo Poggioli: Nowadays keeping expenses in the budget is a priority, so we made them in Bucharest and Budapest where there are quite a few workshops and laboratories that are able to manufacture a lot of pieces and garments in a short time. I also used workshops in Italy and the costumes for the main actors were made in Chicago. All the fabrics for the Dauntless faction were custom-made in Prato, Italy, at O.B.Stock.
Do you have any suggestions for young people who would like to become costume designers?
Carlo Poggioli: I would suggest them to look at other careers connected with this profession as well. When I go to work in the States I often find myself facing one important challenge - they do not have pattern cutters and cutters over there, while they do have plenty of assistants and costume designers. This means that these are the only people I'm usually allowed to take with me from Italy. In fact the visa for them usually arrives before everybody else's. Both the fashion and costume design industries need cutters and pattern cutters, but there aren't too many schools out there that teach you how to cut historical costumes and this is a real shame. That's why I'm always suggesting young people to choose these careers, they offer great job opportunities and rewards as well. I'm always telling myself that I'd like to be reborn a cutter as this profession genuinely fascinates me and I do hope younger generations of people will start understanding the importance of such jobs.
Have you been working on any new films recently?
Carlo Poggioli: I worked on Paolo Sorrentino's new film La giovinezza that will come out in 2015.
Can we count on a new Italian Oscar then, maybe for the best costume designer?
Carlo Poggioli: Well, let's hope so!
Image credits for this post
Costume sketches in this post: Copyright Carlo Poggioli
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