Costume designer Alexandra Byrne ("Finding Neverland," "Hamlet") has been nominated three times for a best costume Oscar, including a nod for her work on Shekhar Kapur's 1998 film, "Elizabeth."
And, like so many others who worked on that award-winning film about young Elizabeth's ascension to the English throne, she was thrilled to dress the queen (a role reprised by Cate Blanchett) again.
"You just begin to see her transformation into the white-faced iconic image at the end of the first 'Elizabeth,' " says Byrne. "There is a passage of time and we come to her again, 27 years later, around 1585, as a powerful, confident monarch who has found her stride and established her style."
But the costumes and colors in the new film are radically different from the first.
"Shekhar is not bound by historical accuracy," Byrne explained. "He wanted this film to look very different, much lighter, with a more feminine court. He spoke about the emotional journey and, instinctively, he saw Elizabeth wearing blue, the color of yearning."
But blue is neither an English nor a royal hue. That was Byrne's first clue that she would have to go in a totally different direction.
"It was quite a challenge. But it was great because I had to rethink, not just roll along from the first film to the second. This is a different story, and my job was to help tell it. It was inspiring to be pushed that hard."
Where did you get inspiration for the queen's costumes?
I looked at all kinds of images. Many from the Elizabethan period and many from modern fashion designers, such as Vivienne Westwood and Balenciaga. Did her portraits inspire you?
Oh, yes. I read letters written by visitors to her court extolling her extraordinary appearance. And I read books, including Roy Strong's "Gloriana" and "The Cult of Elizabeth: Elizabethan Portraiture and Pageantry," academic works that delve into the symbolism in her portraits.
She was incredibly aware of her appearance. She strategically performed the masterful PR stroke of replacing the Catholic Church's Virgin Mary with herself as the icon of Protestant England. Do you sketch costumes?
No, I gather up all the images and swatches of fabric and use them to create mood boards. If I do a drawing, then that is the costume you get. But with mood boards, it's more organic, more exciting and scarier. It's a bit like spinning plates! The first costume is terrifying, but after you get past that, it's instinctive and extraordinary. The danger is that you might just whiz off on a tangent, so you have to keep checking yourself. How did the costumes show the public and the private Elizabeth?
