An interview with... a film set wardrobe mistress
Introducing Lucy Donowho.
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I’ve known Lucy for, erm, 25 years. It doesn’t feel that long, but then that’s friendship isn’t it? Lucy’s ace. She’s one of my more glamourous friends. We met in halls at university up in Liverpool. I remember she was wearing very unusual attire. Not trendy or flashy label led stuff. Just different. I should have known she’d end up at St Martins. (Incidentally these days she mainly dresses like a children’s TV presenter).
In second year we lived in a shared house of 7 where the only available clean food receptacle was often an ashtray and one of the inhabitants was called ‘Top Sh*g’ and rarely left his room. A year of two later we shared a strange flat above a hairdressers at Mile End (before it was cool) in London with a girl who used to invite half of G. A. Y. back to our flat on Saturday mornings to take ketamine in our sitting room. It was stressful but always colourful.
In my first term at Liverpool I became quite poorly with the usual fresher type illness. Rotting in my single camp bed feeling sorry for myself, I felt very much alone. In came Lucy, carrying fresh bed linen. She changed my bed, made me shower and change my PJs and aired the room. It was a kindness that felt gargantuan. A little bit of motherly care when miles away from home. Lucy was, and is, a no nonsense Geordie. Blunt, to the point, easy to be with, no bullsh*t. Of course she’s made a career of working on film sets, OF COURSE. She’s exactly the tonic all those airy fairy types need. She’s also interested in people, which, if you want my opinion, is the number one thing that makes others like you. There’s a narcissist in all of us just waiting to talk about ourselves.
Lucy, despite being incredibly sensible and no-nonsense seems to attract quite crazy situations. To give you a small flavour; once we went to a party together in London in the early noughties and found ourselves at the son of a VERY famous rock star’s house. Think platinum discs on the walls. The party was completely out of control. There was the beginnings of an orgy in one room. (We left). Another time she was invited to a party where the Libertines were going to be. We talked about it and decided we’d go to the gym instead. Wise beyond wise in hindsight. Oh and more recently we spent an evening at a uni reunion at a hotel in Wandsworth where we ended up hanging out with some escorts. It took me quite some time to cotton on. (See previous). Lucy picked it up straight away. She’s canny like that.
Lucy is 42, lives in London, in Elephant and Castle, with her boyfriend Stephen and their cat Luna. She’s extremely well dressed, a bon vivant, the most polite driver I’ve ever known and her mastermind subject would be reality TV. Oh and vintage buttons. She knows a lot about those too.
You can follow Lucy on Instagram but to be honest she doesn’t post anything juicy if you’re looking for celeb stuff. She’s like the rest of us; it’s all food, cats, the odd dog and pics of her love, Stephen. Here’s a photo of Lucy and her love, chosen by the lady herself:
Tell me a bit about yourself - what do you do?
I’ve worked in the costume department on film and TV productions for about 20 years. I look after actors on set, dress them if they need dressing, (even if the production just features contemporary clothes). Where historical clothes are being used, Victorian for example, I might corset actors, make sure things fit properly and also help the designer. I repair garments as we go through the production and of course I wash costumes too.
I (hopefully) make sure people are wearing the right clothes through the right scenes so there aren’t any continuity mistakes, but you know, there are sometimes mistakes in continuity, call it human error. You learn to sort out your own mistakes and help others when they mess up too. Essentially a part of my job is problem solving due to human error. We’re not paid to not make mistakes, we’re paid to know how to fix them.
Did you study a relevant subject at uni? Your job seems very specialised.
I did, but before my degree in Textile Design and Knitting I studied architecture at Liverpool University. The problem was, I didn’t really know what architecture was about; I thought when I applied that it would be creative. It turns out it wasn’t really suited to my brain, it just wasn’t creative enough. So I did the first year, got through it and then at the beginning of the second year they called a third of us in and told us we were failing.
Most people changed to do something called ‘Theory of Architecture’ but well, I thought ‘what am I going to do with that?’ So I decided to go back to my old school and asked them to help me fill in another UCAS form. It worked out and I ended up at St Martins in London doing a Textiles degree, which I was much more suited to. I loved it! It was a little bit like fashion, but with more of the craft of making fabric. I didn’t realise how good I was going to be at it. But I was! And crucially I really enjoyed it too, plus being in London was great.
Having said that, I’m really glad I went to Liverpool first and learnt what it was like to be a proper student, because you’re really not a proper student in London. You live very far away from your course mates and it can be a bit isolating. Luckily I had a very good school friend who lived around the corner so I just continued my friendship with her which became a big part of my student years in London. Without that London could have been lonely. It’s a hard place to be when you have no money and you’re just starting out in life. Certainly not like day one at uni in the rest of the country where you make tonnes of friends, go out and have a lovely time. You’re so footloose and fancy free as a non London fresher.
What was the f*ck it moment that led you to change direction? Were you scared?
I guess leaving university and moving to London was my f*ck it moment, but I don’t know if I was scared, it was just something I had to do. I think I was more scared about explaining it to my family who were essentially supporting me. It was the first year you had to pay £1000 for university tuition and they were also paying my rent. There I was, about to say ‘look I haven’t made the right decision here and you’ve paid for a year and a half of me living in Liverpool and now I’m going to London and oh, also do you mind looking after me whilst I’m in London?’ They didn’t really contest it. In fact, they were very, very kind about it. They didn’t put up any defence and made it easy for me.
I can remember a few moments from being back at home doing my UCAS form at my old school and they just didn’t understand how you could have a career from the arts. It was a private school and from their point of view, there was no evidence that you could forge a living from going to art school. They were quite negative. I remember one of my art teachers saying (well not saying, but alluding to the thought) that I would never get into St Martins, that I was being silly. Still, I applied for Fashion and also Textiles. I didn’t get into Fashion, but I wasn’t really a very fashiony person. I didn’t put much thought into it. I just kind of jumped in with both feet and left it to fate what might happen. I had my Fashion interview first, then my Textiles one. I was very pleased to get into Textiles. I don’t think Fashion would have been right for me.
I’m just quite good at making a decision and then going for it without much anxiety behind it. I sort of sweat the small stuff rather than the big stuff. I probably wasn’t scared of such a big change because I had the backing of a very supportive family. I think I took this for granted in my teens and early twenties. I now realise how lucky I am to have an eternally supportive family and a financially solid background. We’re not super, super wealthy, but my parents have money. If there were a disaster in my life I know I would be alright and there’s a reassurance in that and I’m very grateful for it. Many people don’t have that. My background has essentially given me the foundations to explore what I want to do.
Best moment and worst moment in your working life
I’ve had quite a lot of good moments. I’m lucky that I have quite nice days at work, I mean they’re long days, but I don’t have to deal with real life essentially. I don’t have to deal with money as I’m not a supervisor yet, though I’ve just done a supervisor’s course so budgets are coming!
Best moment might have been my first stand-by job. It was a long time ago, I was a trainee and a wonderful costume designer called Jane Petrie asked me if I wanted to be the costume stand-by (aka ‘the dresser’), on a film called 28 Weeks Later. I jumped at the chance. I didn’t know at the time that it wasn’t much money. It was low budget so I wasn’t paid much and it was 11 day fortnights, so 5 days then 6 days then 5 days then 6 days so it was exhausting but I didn’t know it was exhausting because I was just so happy. I still have more memories of that one job than jobs I’ve done recently. The people were wonderful and talented and I’m still friends with them now. I met a wonderful actress just started out, only 17, called Imogen Poots. She’s doing very well and we still have a lovely friendship.
I learnt a lot and luckily I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I was also the only stand-by on set, which was normal in those days and meant you did so much, whereas now you look after less people. So in short, being asked to be a costume stand-by was the best moment in my professional life because it was my first taste of what I really wanted to be. It was the beginning of everything.
Worst moment? Making a continuity mistake and having that awful feeling of dread. The tingle going up your spine and into your shoulder’s and the shock and horror of it. Let’s be honest, no one’s died, but it’s something that you can’t fix. I mean you can save it, but you can’t un-do it. It’s front line stuff, so for example, someone might have their own earrings in for a couple of wide shots (this happened with a Disney Princess); it’s just horrible. Those scenes don’t ever make the screen as they’re cut in the edit, so a viewer wouldn’t notice.
To give it context, it’s the equivalent of deleting something on a computer. You feel like a failure. It’s ridiculous as putting it into perspective now, it’s just human error. We’re all going to make mistakes! When someone else makes a mistake you can see the bigger picture, but when it’s you, you can’t. I make sure if anyone comes to me worrying about a problem they know that we’re all our own worst critic. I try and make them feel better. The ideal is not to take negative emotions with you on the drive home. Leave it at work.
Best and worst moment personally
I haven’t really had a very dramatic life. I haven’t suffered any out of the ordinary grief in my life yet. I’ve been very lucky that all the people I’ve loved who’ve passed away have been old. I haven’t had horrendous moments that others have had to deal with. I can’t think of a worst moment.
Best moment? It might sound really cheesy, but there’s this exercise company in London called ‘1 Rebel’ and for years I wanted to be fit enough to be able to do a class called ‘reshape’. It’s like Barry’s bootcamp - half treadmill and half weight lifting. A HIIT class with a treadmill. My best moment was going to one of those classes and being able to do it. It might not be big for someone else, but from not being a very sporty person in my teens and going into my twenties, I’d say now in my forties I am above average fitness. It feels very, very good. I don’t dread exercise and it’s lovely.
It’s taken quite a bit of effort to get to that stage, and I’ve got there. Long may it last. It’s really hard to do it when you’re working because it takes so much time. But I allow myself the time to do it. I have lots of free time for self-care because me and Stephen (Lucy’s partner) don’t have any children. We have a little cat. Actually, getting our little cat Luna was one of my best moments. Cementing our little family together. I didn’t realise how much you could love a cat. I had dogs growing up. We’d definitely both save her in a fire.
Best advice ever given
By my Dad, who didn’t go to school past 15. He’s quite a wise man, quite a sensitive man. When I started working on my first job 20 years ago, called Mrs Henderson Presents, on the weekend before my first day he said, ‘don’t moan or complain as people will either ignore you or use it against you’ and it’s so true. I think there’re quite a few people starting in the film industry who could learn from that advice.
Worst advice ever given
Don’t consider a job in a creative industry. Absolutely ridiculous thing to say!
Me? I don’t aim to have a happy life, but a rich life, not in terms of money, but enrichment. People who work in the arts, food, making things… I think our lives can be very enriched through being paid to create. So, worst advice ever, for me, is to do law or economics or medicine just because you think you ought to.
Or maybe just don’t go to uni at all? I don’t think I’d go now, it’s so so much money. I’m not sure what I’d do now, but uni is a lot of money to spend on an education that won’t necessarily get you a job.
Any regrets?
I regret not doing some things, but there’s time to do them isn’t there? I think I’m too young to have regrets. I still have a lot of life to live yet, so anything I haven’t done yet, there’s still time to fit it in.
If you regret something, then you learn from it and then you’ve gained a life lesson. You have to have those so you can grow as a human. I’ve probably regretted not thinking before speaking, making people feel bad with my words, but nothing too bad. I just haven’t had a very dramatic life.
I regret not buying in Elephant and Castle in the early 2000’s. That was a foolish move. We live here now, but yeah, I do regret buying a flat in Tottenham instead!
I don’t even regret smoking in the past. I’ve had a lovely time smoking with people in pubs and at university. It was fun.
You couldn’t get through the week without…
Reality TV. I’m not into Big Brother or Love Island, I’m talking Bravo shows. They’re my therapy, my way to relax. Stephen doesn’t like them so I have to watch them when he’s out of the house or when I’m cleaning or ironing. I love them. I love them!
Real Housewives of New York, Beverly Hills… they’re my favourites. Oh and Below Deck, but Below Deck is liked by quite a lot of people who don’t like regular reality TV. It’s for the more discerning viewer. It’s got that upstairs downstairs vibe. It’s more interesting and educational than the Real Housewives stuff. It’s great when I find someone who likes them like myself; it’s such a good thing to talk about.
For anyone who doesn’t work on set, what might surprise them about it?
How unexciting it is. It’s SLOW. The amount of filming that’s done versus the amount of setting up is small.
The food on set can be amazing but you have to remember they’re feeding 400 people three times a day, plus snacks, so catering can get a bit slap dash. Also the budgets vary wildly from production to production. On location they cook from the back of a van so expectations need to be low. I don’t judge them. It’s okay, it’s food. As crew, we get all our meals provided and have to be fed every 3 hours because we can’t leave the set. In the olden days that would be Digestives and a tea urn, plus breakfast and a couple of lunch choices. I don’t have any food intolerances, but if you do, eating on set can be really hard work.
There are a lot of romances that go on between leading actors
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