Milena Canonero

Canonero was born in Turin, Italy. She attended university in Genoa, studying fashion, period design, and art history before moving to England in the late 1960's to complete her studies.[1] She designed for friends' boutiques in London and began assisting in commercials, meeting many filmmakers along the way, including director Hugh Hudson.[2] He gave Canonero her first break on his short film, which was shot on location in Sicily. She was involved in all aspects of the production and found the entire process captivating.[1] By chance, Canonero was also invited to watch Stanley Kubrick shoot parts of the landmark 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); on the set, the director asked her to work with him on his next feature film project.[2]

Canonero received her first major screen credits for designing costumes for Kubrick's cult classic A Clockwork Orange (1971). She created an instantly recognizable character's wardrobe that perfectly captures the film's discourse on class, money, and power through provoking aesthetics, which has since become an enduring inspiration for fashion icons and designers.[3] Canonero continued professional collaborations with Kubrick on his next two film adaptations: the period drama Barry Lyndon (1975) and the psychological horror The Shining (1980). She crafted authentic 18th-century garments for the former along with Swedish costume designer Ulla-Britt Söderlund. During extensive filming preparations, the designers examined original attire at the Victoria and Albert Museum and copied patterns from the collection.[1] The pair also drew inspiration from period-defining art, including portraits by Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds, genre paintings by Jean Siméon Chardin, as well as the bawdy paintings by William Hogarth, among others.[1] Their remarkable efforts won them the Academy Award for Best Costume Design.[2] Then came an offer to design costumes for George Lucas' space opera Star Wars (1977), which she turned down and later considered to be the biggest missed opportunity of her career.[2] Canonero won her second Academy Award for Hudson's sports drama Chariots of Fire (1981). Her 1920s costumes inspired a fashion trend; as a result, she was asked to design a clothing line for men's-wear manufacturer Norman Hilton.[2]

Beside her well-established screen career, Canonero is known for stage design. She frequently collaborated with director Otto Schenk on his numerous opera productions. Those include Il trittico (Vienna State Opera, 1979), As You Like It (Salzburg Festival, 1980), Die Fledermaus (Vienna State Opera, 1980), Andrea Chénier (Vienna State Opera, 1981), and Arabella (Metropolitan Opera, 1983). She also worked with director Luc Bondy on such productions as Tosca (Metropolitan Opera, 2009) and Helena (Burgtheater, 2010).

On television, Canonero designed costumes for crime drama series Miami Vice in the 1980s.[4]

In 2001, Canonero received the Career Achievement Award in Film from the Costume Designers Guild. In 2005, Canonero won the guild's award for excellence in contemporary film for her work on Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004).[5] She won her third Oscar for Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006).

Details of the costumes worn by Ralph Fiennes and Tilda Swinton in The Grand Budapest Hotel, designed by Canonero.

Canonero reteamed with Anderson in 2014 on The Grand Budapest Hotel, for which she received her ninth nomination and fourth win at the 87th Academy Awards. She also won a BAFTA award for her work on the film.

Milena Canonero was awarded an Honorary Golden Bear during the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.[6]

Canonero is married to actor Marshall Bell, and they live in West Hollywood, California.

• Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic on 21 December 2015.[24]

• Fabienne Liptay (ed.), Milena Canonero. Film-Konzepte 40 (edition text + kritik, 2015).

• Milena Canonero at IMDb