Can you describe the process you went through when designing all the amazing costumes for Austin Powers in Goldmember and how it compares to your experience with The International Man of Mystery and The Spy Who Shagged Me?

The process is very much the same on every project - it always starts with the script. The goal of any costume designer is to help to tell the story and define the characters through costume.

The biggest difference with Austin Powers in Goldmember was the sheer volume of work that had to be accomplished. We built over 350 costumes for the film. From the wardrobe, shoes, hats & jewelry for all the main characters, to the henchmen of Dr. Evil and Mr. Roboto, to a slew of dancers in the 60's & 70's, Mini Me's Carnaby and period flashbacks as well. Austin's and Evil's story covers a lot of territory this time - with many star cameos along the way. Combine that with trying to maintain the style we'd established for the familiar characters and the added worlds of Foxxy and Goldmember.
Do you have a favorite piece from Austin Powers in Goldmember?

I had a lot of fun working on Foxxy's jewelry. I wanted to create a logo for Foxxy so I hired my brother, dan (now a director - use to be an artist) to work with me on a logo. From that, I approached H. Stern to manufacture Foxxy's 18kt gold jewelry. It started as a single earring but the day the pieces arrived, I decided to use one of the earrings as necklace - hung from a wire. We basically rigged it together but it looked great. I also designed a beaded gold, fringed collar for Foxxy's introduction in the club inspired by a tribal necklace I'd seen in the film Cleopatra Jones.


What were your major challenges with designing the wardrobe for Austin Powers in Goldmember?

Austin's style has always started with fabric. So we have to shop all over the world (unfortunately via FedEx) for something new and exciting enough to be in Austin's closet.

Mike feels very strongly in the characters of Austin's world having an iconic image so creating the looks for Goldmember and Foxxy were really the greatest challenge.

I knew it would start with gold. But as for finding Goldmember's style, it evolved after literally watching Mike find the character. He would bring us into the conference room and run through the lines to help us all flesh out who Goldmember would become. For me, I found my visual inspiration in 70's Elton and Elvis.

For Foxxy, it was a combination of what would evoke the 70's and still be sexy on a woman today. It's not too hard when you're starting with Beyonce. She lights up everything from the inside.