Colleen Atwood

Every story is different, so what is a detail in one might not be in something else. Diversity is something I embrace and love about my work.

I choose colors I like and will photograph well. I don't do color theory!

I really don't over-theorize about design. I'd rather feel it than talk it to death. A lot happens as you unroll the design.

I design for the movie and the character as well as the person wearing the costume. I show the ideas to the actor, then do fittings for shape and technical things such as movement in the costume. Once the costume in this form is on the actor, you have a sense of their connection with it. I then take it to the next level with the final fit.

I get more distracted by hair or a really bad wig than I do costumes any day of the week.

The right costume determines the character, helps the actor feel who he is, and serves the story.

My work space is so visually crammed. It's like an insane candy store. The number of textiles I'm surrounded with is mind boggling. It's a treat to come home to a nice negative space.

I grew up in the age of polyester. When I got to touch real silk, cotton and velvet, the feel of nonsynthetic fabrics blew me away. I know it's important how clothing looks, but it's equally important how it feels on your skin.

I always loved clothes, just not clothes that were appropriate to the place I grew up in.

I can create clothes for so many different time periods. I've always tried to avoid being pigeonholed. Plus, everything I learn about design and costume from one movie somehow works its way into something else.

As for futuristic costumes, I loved doing 'Gattaca' because I'm a minimalist at heart, and it's a very minimal film. Plus, with Uma Thurman, Ethan Hawke and Jude Law, how could you go wrong?

One of the challenges with period costumes is, on a technical level, making the scale of different periods work on contemporary bodies. We're much bigger than what people were in older times.

For contemporary fashion, I'm a huge fan of so many of the people out there. I think Azzedine Alaia holds up through three generations of very specific, beautiful design. I think Jean Paul Gaultier also is very interesting with a long span.

I had to work out that it was something that could move, without having everybody in spray painted leotards.

I'd seen the current stage production and the 1975 production of Chicago. I liked them both very much, but I didn't use them necessarily as inspiration.

I've always loved movies, art and clothes.

If you want someone to feel warm, you dress them in a warm color and put a warm light on them and you get the picture. Sometimes, all that needs pushing a little bit to help tell the story.

In Chicago, I walked in knowing what the dancers were going to need.

In real life, a lot of people at that level will have their kimonos made especially for them.

Knowing who the actors were as you were designing them helped, with Catherine's beauty and Renee's frailty, they directed me visually just by who they were.