Excerpt from Heel.

Costume and Set Design

by Laura Smith and Emma Burnand.

Directed by Diego Arredondo.

Winner of Cannes Straight 8 2004.

About

I trained as a Theatre Designer at Wimbledon School of Art and became interested in stop frame animation which led to work in film via training in Handcraft tailoring at London College of Fashion. These are all crafts and inform each other to turn into something else, for me it was Costume Design. 

The first film project that I co-designed the Set and Costumes for was Heel. This was selected as the Winner of the Straight 8 Competition and was shown at the Cannes film Festival in 2004.  The film was part live action and part animation and shot on a hand held camera on a single reel of Super 8 film with in camera edits only.  

I have worked consistently since then between film, television, theatre and live performance as an in house Costumier at the BBC, then as a freelance Buyer, Assistant, Supervisor and Designer for Costume. I have worked in the UK and internationally on projects that have ranged in scale from single camera studio shoots to multi camera multi location productions with multiple principal artists and hundreds of background. These have been for Independent Film and Major Film Studios.

Over the last 10 years I have assisted Alexandra Byrne and worked with Julian Day in film and Vicki Russell and Roger Burton for commercials on awesome and inspiring projects. 

My most recent project as Costume Designer is an adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? Starring Lucy Boynton and Will Poulter. Written and Directed by Hugh Laurie, streaming globally on Britbox.


Assistant Costume Designer

I have been honoured to assist Alexandra Byrne on a series of film projects for several years, some of the titles are pictured here….

The Mauritanian. Costume Designer; Alexandra Byrne. Director, Kevin Macdonald. BBC FILMS, SunnyMarch, Oak Street Films.

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Emma,

Costume Designer; Alexandra Byrne.

Director, Autumn de Wilde.

Perfect World Pictures/Working Title/Focus Features.

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The Aeronauts,

Costume Designer; Alexandra Byrne.

Director, Tom Harper.

Mandeville Films/ Amazon Studios.

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Mary Queen of Scots,

Costume Designer; Alexandra Byrne.

Director, Josie Rourke.

Working Title/Focus Features/Universal Pictures.

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Murder on the Orient Express,

Costume Designer; Alexandra Byrne.

Director, Kenneth Branagh.

Scott Free Productions/20th Century Fox.

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Doctor Strange,

Costume Designer; Alexandra Byrne.

Director, Scott Derrickson.

Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

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Mowgli,

Costume Designer; Alexandra Byrne.

Director, Andy Serkis.

Netflix/Warner Brothers.

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Avengers: Age of Ultron,

Costume Designer; Alexandra Byrne.

Director, Joss Whedon.

Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

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Guardians of the Galaxy,

Costume Designer; Alexandra Byrne.

Director, James Gunn.

Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.


Costume Department

I have also worked across a range of roles within the Costume Department in both Film and Television as Supervisor, Buyer, Costume Assistant, Crowd Fitter and Principal Standby.  I have worked as part of fantastic crews on the titles below…..

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Rush,

Costume Designer, Julian Day.

Director, Ron Howard.

Cross Creek Pictures/Working Title Films/Imagine Entertainment/Revolution Films/Universal Pictures.

ROLE: Key Costume Assistant.

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Salmon Fishing In The Yemen,

Costume Designer; Julian Day.

Director, Lasse Hallestrom.

BBC Films/ Lionsgate/Kudos Pictures/UK Film Council/Lionsgate UK/Davis Films.

ROLE: Costume Maker.

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Friday Night Dinner, Series 1,

Costume Designer; Wiz Francis.

Director, Steve Bendelack.

Big Talk Productions.

CHANNEL 4 Television.

ROLE: Costume Supervisor.

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Brighton Rock,

Costume Designer; Julian Day.

Director, Rowan Joffé.

Studio Canal/BBC Films/Kudos Film and Television.

ROLE: Principle Standby.

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Chatroom,

Costume Designer; Julian Day.

Director, Hideo Nakata.

Ruby Films/Revolver Entertainment.

ROLE: Principle Standby/Costume Assistant

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Nowhere Boy,

Costume Designer; Julian Day.

Director, Sam Taylor Johnson.

Ecosse Films/Film 4/ HanWayFilms.

ROLE: Principle Standby/Costume Assistant.