SUCCESS BY DESIGN

Oscar-nominated costume designer Arianne Phillips on bringing Bob Dylan to life and working with Hollywood's biggest stars

- ROSALIND POWELL

There aren't many who could order a Hollywood A-lister to strip naked. But for acclaimed costume designer Arianne Phillips, it's all part of her day job.

"We are the only department that's like, 'Hello, please take your clothes off," says the creative, who has received four Academy Award nominations for her work. "But you need to be sensitive. I think of a costume designer as a people detective: you have to read the energy in the room."

Arianne, 61, has dressed everyone from Brad Pitt to Leonardo DiCaprio to Reese Witherspoon - not to mention Madonna, with whom she has worked for 28 years.

Her most recent project was A Complete Unknown, which earned her both BAFTA and Oscar nominations.

The Bob Dylan biopic covers the musician's journey from folk singer to rock star, with Timothée Chalamet giving a SAG Award-winning performance in the leading role.

"It was wonderful to work with him," says Arianne from her home in Los Angeles. "He's very focused and very generous with his time."

Timothée had already spent over five years immersing himself in the enigmatic songwriter's life - learning how to sing, speak and play guitar like Bob - and the outfits were the last piece of the puzzle.

"I read a quote once by Laurence Olivier, who said he always started with his character from the shoes up to inform how he would walk and that ignited something in me," says Arianne.

"I want the fabric to feel authentic, the shoe to feel proper. I love that part of the job. I think a costume is like the beam-me-up suit for an actor - the touch and feel of it."

CLOTHING A LEGEND

Set in the early 1960s, the film spans a four-year period, from Bob's arrival in New York as a 19-year-old naïf from a small Midwestern town to a reluctant star on the brink of global fame.