SHARING SNOW WHITE'S SECRETS

Oscar-winning costume designer Sandy Powell reveals how she reimagined the beloved Disney character for her latest film

- ROSALIND POWELL

There's no doubt that the newly released Snow White film is a visual spectacle.

Almost 2,000 costumes featured in the shoot, filling a space the size of an aircraft hangar at Pinewood Studios in Slough.

But hidden away in a cupboard under lock and key was the film's most important outfit: a blue and yellow dress- and 13 identical copies -worn by the titular heroine. Security around the live-action version of Disney's famous animated movie was paramount - there were to be no sneaked peeks.

Sandy Powell, the film's Academy Awardwinning costume designer, knew she would have to pay homage to the iconic look of the original 1937 animation. "If you take on a Disney film, you know what you're doing," she says, and she should know - she also designed the costumes for Disney's Cinderella in 2015.

"Snow White is important for Disney because historically, it was the first ever full-length animation feature. Everybody knows what Snow White looks like, so there was no way I could change it. I just did a different version."

The design process started four months before filming began and continued throughout the five-month shoot. A team of 115 people including pattern cutters and textile artists, leather workers, milliners, jewellers and dressers - worked on the 1,800 costumes and accompanying hats, shoes, aprons and belts.

Every item of clothing worn on screen was made specially for the production - usually unheard of in such large-scale films. However, the two principals - Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen - had relatively few outfits.