Throughout my 20+ years working as a costume designer original design has always excited me - it keeps the spark in how I feel about what I do.
TV work includes the upcoming Black Cake, based on the best-selling novel of the same title, set 1940-Present day, filmed in the UK, Jamaica, Italy and US, BBC's cult series Doctor Who, swashbuckling 17th Century BBC drama The Musketeers and slick conspiracy thriller The Capture for NBC Universal. Feature Films include Prizefighter starring Russel Crowe and Ray Winstone, Close, starring Noomi Rapace, A Lonely Place to Die starring Melissa George, All Things to All Men with Gabriel Byrne and Toby Stephens, Doghouse with Stephen Graham and Noel Clarke and many others.
I work primarily in period costume, I have extensive knowledge and expertise in different historic periods - I enjoy doing all the research and then love shaking it all up and creating something new and surprising. Whether it's period accuracy or wildly breaking convention, mixing the facts from the past with the unexpected and new to create something exciting on screen.
Creating costumes unique to the needs of each story, I like to create designs that reflect the individuality of a character and where they are within their narrative. I love collaborating in world-building – making defining principals about character groups, societies, historical periods and classes, setting rules and boundaries that characters adhere to and rebel against to tell the audience who they are, who they aren’t or hide who they might be with subtle misdirection. The considerations are fascinating: it’s a partnership between narrative, psychology and design, expressed in clothing, accessories, protection, armour and ornament. And colour. Colour is key.
Originally from Australia, I have been based in the UK since 2005 and have worked in many countries including: the Czech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Lithuania, Spain, France, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Greece, Morocco, Jamaica and Brazil.
Growing up in Tasmania with an early interest in costume history and science fiction, I work from varied sources, sometimes using a process called 'Hybrid Design' to blend my love of rich historical costume with contemporary design or other contrasting aesthetics. With a strong costume cutting and making background, many of the productions I design for have a high percentage of costumes custom made for purpose.
Emphasising new creative design for the future and reflecting on the richness of the past, I love working on varied projects, making strong and appropriate visuals to support engaging stories.