Dressing Australia: A Conversation with Catherine Martin

Catherine: I think that every single story kind of has its own impurities and its own challenges. And I hope as a costume designer I'm a helpful part of the storytelling team. And Baz as a director is always asking for the clothes to inform the character and the story.

Watch Catherine discuss how to create costumes that truly fit characters! 

So the challenges were twofold, I suppose for me, on this film. It's the first time, and I sort of set this to myself as a professional challenge, where I did both the set and costumes completely alone. And previously I'd done co-costume design and set design, so I'd shared the workload. So it was about seeing if I was professionally ready to take on those challenges, and the world may suggest that for themselves.

The second challenge is, I think, when you're doing anything with clothes that are relatively simple—in the sense that ultimately it's a skirt and a shirt or pants and a top—the challenge to express character is a greater challenge. And I found that very interesting because the clothes are much closer to present day than, say, Moulin Rouge. But there [was] much more subtle expression.