Luca Guadagnino was right when he said he would make some enemies. In an interview, he stated that costume designers are just interested in the clothing and not the person wearing it. The response has been, well, what one could expect.
The director of After the Hunt, Queer, and Challengers was elaborating on what he believed to be the distinction between fashion designers and costume designers—a viewpoint that is as foolish, misguided, and blatantly contemptuous as the stereotype that women aren’t humorous or that blondes are dumb. This is the whole transcript of the video that was uploaded to the Instagram account of Business of Fashion.
“Costume designers, and I’m gonna create enemies here, tend to think in terms of the garment. Designers of fashion think in terms of the body, who wears them. And that is a huge difference for me. And I think that is what makes costume design from people like Jonathan [Anderson] or in my collaborations with Raf [Simons] or Giulia Piersanti, it’s that you eventually can find the character and the person, not just the character.”
He added, “And it’s about dynamism, the way they look. And if you think of Jonathan, Jonathan did Challengers. The thing he said to me first was like, “America is about display of capitalism in everything they do,” and particularly the world of tennis is that in America. So he did something that nobody expected. People were expecting the great bravura of Jonathan with shape and form, and in fact he was very into the characters and into the world and the economics of the world.”
And oh boy, did he create a lot of enemies? Yes. The costume designer, Kate Hawley (designer for Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein), mercilessly commented, “Sir, you are entitled to your opinion, but the obvious contradiction in your statement makes it apparent you have no understanding of the Art of Costume Design.”
His comments also exasperated Jenny Beavan, an Academy Award, four BAFTA Film Awards, two Emmy Awards, and an Olivier Award winner, eliciting the response, “I can only add I am thankful he will never want to work with me!”
In retaliation Arianne Phillips penned, “[C]ouldn’t disagree more. Sweeping generalizations such as this are never respectful when you are speaking to artistic collaboration. Clearly this is Luca’s experience, perhaps it is direction and approach. Every costume designer like every director has their own perspective, process and interpretation. Extremely offensive to a whole craft that Luca clearly does not respect. Very disappointing.”
The audacious opinions of Luca did gain him several enemies. But I will not be the moral judge of anyone here or the remarks they passed on. Instead, the audience will be able to provide a rightful insight into this matter. Let us know in the comments!
