A conversation with Milena Canonero, Wes… | Little White Lies

Interviews

A con­ver­sa­tion with Mile­na Canonero, Wes Anderson’s cos­tume designer

21 Jun 2023

Words by David Jenkins

Three men in desert attire conversing near a vintage car in a desert setting.
Three men in desert attire conversing near a vintage car in a desert setting.
The four time Oscar-win­ner talks her for­ma­tive con­nec­tions with Stan­ley Kubrick and how she’s able to ful­fil Wes Anderson’s unique aes­thet­ic visions.

Imag­ine your first cred­it as a cos­tume design­er for cin­e­ma was Stan­ley Kubrick’s A Clock­work Orange. And now imag­ine that you include Fran­cis Ford Cop­po­la and Wes Ander­son as the names on your cur­rent client list. The Turin-born Mile­na Canonero is a leg­end in the indus­try, and has won four Oscars for her work over the decades, includ­ing most recent­ly one for the cos­tumes she designed for Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Her work in Aster­oid City cov­ers duelling time­lines and dis­parate styles: a mid-cen­tu­ry desert-bound jaunt with an explo­sion of pas­tels, and the for­mal mono­chrome threads of a dis­pos­sessed clique of urban the­atre actors. We had a short, sharp chat with Canonero about her con­nec­tions to Kubrick, Anderson’s speci­fici­ty of vision and his own unique sar­to­r­i­al style.

Collage of hand-drawn figures and cartoon-like illustrations covering a wall.

LWLies: Hav­ing worked with Stan­ley Kubrick, was it strange to have to cre­ate cos­tumes for a char­ac­ter who was inspired by Stan­ley Kubrick?

Canonero: No it was not strange. It was I would say it was more mov­ing, as Stan­ley was such a great men­tor for me. It was one spe­cif­ic Stan­ley Kubrick look that inspired the char­ac­ter played by Jason Schwartz­man – when Stan­ley was start­ing his career as a young pho­tog­ra­ph­er. By look­ing into that peri­od of his life and also lis­ten­ing to Jason imi­tat­ing Stanley’s voice, it was touch­ing for me.

Two women and a man browsing clothing racks in a retail shop, all wearing face masks.

Did Wes and Jason tap you for infor­ma­tion in the cre­ation of the char­ac­ter of Augie Steenbeck?

There are so many pho­tos and so much infor­ma­tion for any­one to search. I some­times showed Jason some of Stanley’s ges­tures or man­ner­isms but in the end Augie is Augie cre­at­ed by Jason and Wes. Not a mim­ic ver­sion of Stan­ley even if the main inspi­ra­tion was Stanley.

Man in white clothing and hat touching woman's face, woman wearing patterned dress and hat standing in outdoor setting with trees.

Does Wes tend to want to see lots of options before land­ing on a Look” for each char­ac­ter? How many dif­fer­ent cos­tumes for each char­ac­ter did you have to source?

No nev­er too many options. He is quite spe­cif­ic but he likes ideas, research and sug­ges­tions with­in the descrip­tions he gives me.

Hanging dresses and garments with a floral print design in a dark, shadowy interior.

For Aster­oid City, how much fideli­ty did you retain to the time peri­od? Were anachro­nisms allowed?

Fideli­ty is inter­est­ing because often it is unusu­al and unex­pect­ed and there are so many choic­es in every peri­od. Anachro­nism is def­i­nite­ly allowed in Wes’s movies.

Sign reading "Asteroid City" in desert setting with rocky mounds, wagon wheels, and a person in white suit and hat.

How much does Wes’s own sar­to­r­i­al tastes influ­ence his deci­sions for costumes?

Wes def­i­nite­ly has his own per­son­al style, his deci­sions for cos­tumes on his movies are not influ­enced by that nec­es­sar­i­ly. How­ev­er he loves cer­tain quirk­i­ness­es in cos­tumes that by now are famil­iar to me.

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