Costume designer Consolata Boyle (below) has been nominated for an Oscar for her work on The Queen (inset), and will walk the red carpet tomorrow in a dress by young designer Eilis Boyle, writes Deirdre McQuillan
Tomorrow in Los Angeles, at the biggest movie event of the year, award-winning Irish costume designer Consolata Boyle will take to the red carpet at the Oscars wearing a dress created by young Irish fashion designer Eilis Boyle. It will be a big moment for both of them. One of five nominees for the costume design award, Consolata has won worldwide acclaim for the outfits she created for The Queen, the hugely successful movie starring Helen Mirren as Elizabeth II. At a ceremony that is watched by millions and is as much about flattering frocks as it is about films, how did she go about choosing what to wear? "I wanted to wear something Irish," she tells me at Brooks Hotel in Dublin, where she is having a fitting with Eilis, having just flown in from Los Angeles.
Though not related, they share a common attitude to fashion, as well as the same surname. "I knew the kind of things Eilis made and I liked what she was doing. I love her subtle sense of colour and that simplicity of shape and fabric," Consolata says.
More accustomed to creating costumes for movie stars than finding herself in the limelight, Consolata has years of experience of how clothes work under cameras, and was sure of the colours and the fabrics she wanted.
For Eilis, creating the outfit was not only "a huge honour", but an enormous challenge, particularly knowing that her dress would be sharing the red carpet with high-profile international names such as Armani, Dior and Chanel. "I can't talk - it really feels unreal. It is an incredible honour. And Consolata really knows about fabric and finish."
The pair got together a few weeks ago at short notice to view fabric samples and decide on shapes. Glitz was out. "I didn't want to be untrue to myself by being forced into something that was not me. I had a real link with what Eilis does and I think subdued glamour is incredibly powerful," says Consolata, trying on a full-length black dress in silk taffeta that I suggest could have walked straight out of a painting by Goya. "Or Singer Sargent," replies Consolata, adding that "black with paler shades is very beautiful and uncompromising - I am very aware that this is totally for TV. And for once, it's not me walking around and tweaking and muttering to myself."
Part of the preparation for the Oscars ceremony involves rehearsals weeks in advance of the event, at which nominees are advised about their speeches (to keep them short), and filmed talking about their influences. These clips are shown throughout the ceremony. They are filmed in Fox Studios in Los Angeles by Fog of War director Errol Morris, and in preparation Consolata had her make-up sprayed on by machine for the first time. "It makes your skin completely matt, ready for TV. I had heard about these spray machines, but had never seen one before - they are amazing." She has ordered two dresses from Eilis, one in black; the other in ash-grey silk. One was worn to the Baftas in London, and the other will be worn in Los Angeles. Eilis travelled to London and Paris to find the right materials for the dresses, which will have taken a week to complete.
For dressmaker Pauline Blount of Co Meath, who has helped Eilis complete the outfits, the news that they were destined for the Oscars was only revealed to her at their final stages. "I was speechless when I heard," she says. "I am used to wedding and debs dresses, but they don't go to the Oscars."
The dresses will be worn with simple jewellery and 2½-inch heels. "I don't dress up a lot, but I enjoy it. My life revolves around clothes so much that part of me has decided to keep everything around me as simple as possible, which is why I gravitated to Eilis for her wonderful sophisticated simplicity," Consolata says.
Her costumes for The Queen are currently on display at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. Her next project will be a post-war film about Winston Churchill and his wife Clem. It is to be directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan and will be made in the UK in the spring. In the meantime, is hers a winning dress? All will be revealed tomorrow.
Watch the fashion parade on The Red Carpet Live, Sky One, tomorrow 11pm-12.30am, and switch to Sky Movies 1 for live coverage of the 79th Annual Academy Awards, 12.30am-5.30am. There are highlights on RTÉ2 at 9pm on Monday night