We needed to feel that she was a coherent, believable character in the film. Eighteen months before we even shot one frame of film, we started working on the costumes. We went to Nashville to visit Nicole and do a costume fitting.
Baz uses this more as a rehearsal period for him and the actor, using the clothes to find the character. So the task for me was to bring a suitcase of ‘uptight Lady Sarah’ and a suitcase of ‘relaxed Lady Sarah’ and contrasting these two looks we’d find the essence of the character.
We’d then know what her style was moving forward after she loses all her clothes on the cattle drove. Two of the costumes Nicole tried on for aristocratic Lady Sarah actually ended up being in the film. It’s a very long process!
Strangely the simpler things are - things as obvious as jodhpurs and a shirt and a pair of boots, can sometimes take you longer to find. Simplicity is sometimes the hardest thing to find, rather than something that’s constructed.
What conversations were had early on regarding the overall look and feel of the film?
One of the great things about working with Baz is that the process takes a long time, so you do have the resources and time to understand the world you’re going in to.
He’s also a research-driven writer/director so he’ll set you tasks even when he’s writing the script, for example, what could Faraway Downs have looked like in that period? What would a character like Lady Sarah wear to go riding?
As a result of his questions you start to build up a whole library of images that you then have as a resource for yourself. In the same way, he will use those images to influence the script so it’s all tied in. You’ll have the odd day where you’ll panic and think ‘I’m never going to be able to do this and it’s going to be a complete disaster’, but I think that’s normal.
You can feel very stressed by the enormity of the task. The up side is that it’s not like a stage play or a musical where everything has to be ready at once, so there are a number of ‘opening nights’ or big scenes over a period of time.
You basically have to be practical and break down all of your tasks. One of the greatest difficulties and we’re still grappling with systems to make this work, is the number of images and reference materials as Baz ends up with such an encyclopedic knowledge of the material. Our issue is how to catalogue it and find it effectively.
At the very beginning we took the script and did what I called an illustrated script which is about 500 pages long and we’d take Baz’s top images from all the reference materials and put them into the script digitally.
We ended up with images of locations, costumes etc whenever a character or reference came up and we printed enough for all the relevant people involved.
I think on the next one we need an archivist from the minute we start collecting images! You need someone you’re a bit scared of who is going to tell you off for not filing things properly!
You had 2000 costumes in the movie. It must have been a pretty daunting task. How did you manage to come up with that many?
You have a big team to help you. A large number of those costumes were military uniforms. We did make the majority of our military uniforms because Australia is a big country with a small population so we don’t have Angels or these big costume hire places that have that sort of volume.
We have some military suppliers but for that period in history and that quantity most had to be made. It’s the same as with the sets we had fifty three sets which is pretty mammoth but you just have to break it all down and every day, attack a new deadline.
We sometimes fell behind but ultimately we finished which is the most important thing. Every time you make another film you become more skilled at managing the workflow. Every time you get a more refined process.
I learned a lot from working in the opera, because you have a lot of background artistes and because with Baz’s work the principal characters develop over a period of time, I try and get all of the background artistes sorted out as quickly and as early as possible, so the work room is free.
We also hired some costumes from England and from the US so as to add texture. If you make everything yourself it all ends up looking like a bunch of robot people! The quicker you get the background artistes sorted out, they actually become the set against which you see most of the principal characters in the major crowd scenes.
What gives someone great individual style?
It’s knowing who you are and having the confidence to express yourself. That’s why that series How to Look Good Naked is so great it’s the most fabulous and positive series I’ve seen.
I rarely watch an episode of that without crying! The fundamental thing he teaches women is confidence. It’s not really about the new clothes it’s about saying you’re worthwhile, you’re confident.
Your personal confidence ‘helps’ with style but that doesn’t mean that everyone who is confident has great style or that people who are lacking in confidence don’t have style. It doesn’t mean people can’t break the rules I for one am a much more sophisticated dresser and have a much more sophisticated understanding of fashion now than I did ten years ago.
There’s something I read very recently that’s very appropriate to this question. When Anna Wintour told her father she was interested in fashion he said he thought she should go to college and learn about it and she replied, ‘Father, you either know fashion or you don’t’.
Some people are just born with an inherent feel for style, an eye and an ability to dress themselves. The most important thing that transcends fashion or style is your own inner sense of happiness with yourself that will outshine even a t-shirt with stains on it!
Everyone has individual style it’s like when people are at drama school and they’re told everyone has a singing voice, it’s just about finding it. It’s the same with style. The world would be very boring if we all dressed the same.
What would give someone a touch of 1930s or 1940s style in their wardrobe?
Bias cut dresses, there was a revival in the 1970s with Biba and that look has come back again. Dresses generally are very 1930s, particularly floral dresses, chiffon is also very of that era. Floral corsages are late 30s/early 40s, so are Mary Jane shoes and lace-up shoes with a heel.
Perky little hats perched over one eye gives you that look or a fascinator veil. Feather boas! The 1930s and early 40s was also a period of women embracing trousers for the first time the wide-legged pants which were immortalized by Coco Chanel, often with a sailor-front with a set of six buttons worn with a stripy t-shirt. A bit of a jaunty scarf and a beret and you’re totally 1930s!
What inspired you to follow the career you’ve followed?
I was very lucky that my parents took me to a lot of theatre and opera when I was young. I remember being at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney when I must have been six or seven years of age. We were at a performance of Jesus Christ Superstar directed by Jim Sharman who directed one of the original productions of Hair and he’s the Australian director of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
I remember a moment when Jesus is encased in this strange multi-faceted box and as the crucifix was lifted out I remember thinking, one day I want to work in this business. Eventually the guy who designed that particular set ended up being one of my mentors! That was the moment when I really understood the power of theatre.
Australia is released on DVD and Blu-Ray on 27th April.