After their successful collaboration for ‘Chicago’, Academy Award winner (and four time Academy Award nominee) costume designer Colleen Atwood was a genuine choice for director Rob Marshall when he assembled his creative team for ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’.
Was the Japanese geisha culture completely strange to you?
Ironically not. I studied painting in school and had an affinity towards Japanese and Chinese art because I love watercolours.
Did you get to meet and consult a geisha while in Japan?
Of course. Very few geishas in Japan speak English, but I did meet a young geisha and saw her through her dressing process, went with her to her night of entertainment in a very highly esteemed tea house in Kyoto. I enjoyed two geisha performances and a stunning night at the kabuki theatre.
How long did it take to get an actor into full kimono gear?
We made a modification of the kimono, we did a lot of shortcuts with the obi, and it took us 20 minutes to get them into the costumes and out, because on a film you have to be able to do it quickly. Normally, if it’s a professional dress or if you’re dressing a formal kimono with those 30 or 40-pound obis, it takes about 45 minutes
All in all, how many kimonos did you design for Gong Lee, Michelle Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang?
For the three of them combined I made probably 150 kimonos.
Did they actually wear all of those in the movie?
Yeah. The three main ones, they each had about 30 to 40 costume changes.
Is a geisha’s only jewellery their hair ornaments?
It’s very true. In reality, it’s all about the artistry of the personality and the movement and the grace and it’s not about embellishment.
What else belongs to the geisha’s regimen of accessories?
The obiage is a beautiful silk cord that’s tied around over the top of the obi. Some of them are exquisite, just braided silk, very beautifully done. Then there’s the obidome, a small ornament worn on the cord, only for formal occasions. There’s an amazing scarf, made of shibori technique silk, they tie on the top of the obi.
