Colleen Atwood designs clothes for lots of stars but her latest claim to fame is Johnny Depp, whom she draped with niceness and textiles in his latest Golden Globe-nom earning role in ‘The Tourist’ with you-know-who Jolie AND – wait – Alice in Wonderland’ for Tim Burton. Atwood has been nommed eight times for an Oscar in costume design, making her a regular Edith Head. She also won twice, once for ‘Chicago’ and once again for ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’. 

Atwood studied painting, worked in retail (Yves St Laurant, no less) and that was what she referred to for the clothes in ‘The Tourist’.

“It needed to be sort of minimalist chic, set against the rich backdrops of the Venetian buildings and colors,” said the costume designer, who also added that the director, Florian ‘The Lives of Others’ Henckel, wanted a Hitchcockian feel updated to today.

So what was Angelina wearing? Two heritage pieces that Atwood found herself – a gray Charles James dress (“It’s very rare to find a Charles James dress and it’s very rare to find one that anyone can actually fit into!”), a suit by Irene, a 1950s movie and couture fashion designer.

Depp’s costumes in the movie were much more simple – just suits. Atwood calls his character, “the kind of guy that deserves a second look but doesn’t necessarily get it.”

A big lover of antique fabrics, Atwood worked as a PA on ‘Ragtime’ before meeting Tim Burton during ‘Joe Vs The Volcano’ (very underrated film) and has since worked on ‘Sleepy Hollow’, ‘Ed Wood’, ‘Big Fish’, and ‘Planet of the Apes’ and – drum roll – ‘Dark Shadows’ which is currently prepping at Pinewood Studios.

So, if you want to meet Colleen and beg her to become her assistant, figure out how to sneak into Pinewood’s high security gates… Not that she needs your help, mind.

There are lots of Colleen Atwood interviews out there, just Google, but this one’s good.

Karen Krizanovich – Film Editor

Follow Karen @TheMovienista and @Krizanovich