Kate Hawley’s Oscar-winning year began with daydreams in Wellington

Kate Hawley’s journey from Wellington theatre to Hollywood awards has reached an extraordinary milestone. The New Zealand costume designer received an Oscar for her work on Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, a film whose vivid, painterly look made its costumes part of a richly crafted visual world. The Academy Award was one of several honours in a remarkable run. Hawley also received a Bafta and, more recently, a Chainsaw award at the Fangoria horror film awards. She was given a standing ovation at the Oscars, and says the recognition mattered not just to her but to the design team behind the film, whose work can be overlooked when budgets are tight and artificial intelligence is changing the industry. The day after the ceremony, Hawley headed to Ireland to research her next project, Bad Bridgets, a period thriller from Kneecap director Rich Peppiatt. Its cast includes Colin Farrell, Domhnall Gleeson, Alison Oliver and Emilia Jones. Hawley says the shift from the Oscar ceremony’s glamour to a lower-budget production was striking: after staying in a luxury Beverly Hills hotel, she booked into a hostel in Belfast. The change of setting came with practical challenges, too. Hawley says she arrived in cold weather with light clothing packed for Los Angeles, along with the silk gown and cape made for her awards appearance by New Zealand designer Rory Williams Docherty. When she eventually returned to her lifestyle block in Paparoa, people asked whether the whirlwind had brought her back down to earth. Her response, she says, was that she had never left it. Hawley grew up in Wellington, then studied and began her early design work in England. She has said the Bafta was especially meaningful because of those beginnings. In December, the British Fashion Council named her its first Costume Designer of the Year. For Hawley, the awards offer welcome recognition for a craft she says is facing years of doubt and increasingly difficult working conditions.