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Swarovski, a long-time benefactor of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, recently presented UCLA TFT with a generous multi-year gift to the School’s David C. Copley Center for the Study of Costume Design.

This new gift will augment three existing collaborations between UCLA TFT and Swarovski: The highly successful Sketch to Screen Costume Design Panel and Celebration; the Swarovski Designer in Residence; and the Swarovski Shooting Star Student Scholarship, doubling the current award to make it the leading design scholarship offered by UCLA TFT. Increased funding to these programs will allow the Copley Center greater engagement with the public and the professional design community, and support the next generation of award winning costume designers.

“Swarovski’s generous multi-year commitment allows us to effectively connect our students with professional mentors, to develop a public and professional community of support for costume design education, and to provide students with much needed financial relief,” says UCLA TFT Copley Center Director Professor Deborah Nadoolman Landis.

On Saturday, Feb. 25, Professor Landis will moderate the seventh annual Sketch to Screen Costume Design Panel and Celebration, which takes place on the UCLA campus the day before the Academy Awards. Featuring the Oscar nominees for costume design and the designers of the year’s most prestigious films, these artists will discuss the central role costume plays in cinematic storytelling. Last year, the panel included 2016 Academy Award winner Jenny Beavan (Mad Max: Fury Road) as well as 2016 Oscar nominees Paco Delgado (The Danish Girl), Sandy Powell (Carol, Cinderella) and Jacqueline West (The Revenant), along with Suttirat Anne Larlarb (Steve Jobs) and Michael Wilkinson (Joy).

The Copley Center’s annual Swarovski Designer in Residence program hosts a renowned costume designer to work with costume design students and present a public program. This spring, the Copley Center will host Academy Award-nominated costume designer Ruth E. Carter (Amsted, Malcolm X, Selma) for a weeklong series of master classes and public programs during the 2016-17 academic year. Last year, the 2016 program welcomed Game of Thrones and The Crown costume designer Michele Clapton. Clapton spent the week working intensively with students on a design project, shared her own work for the series, and reviewed graduate student portfolios. During her residency, she joined Professor Landis and Getty Center Curator Bryan Keene for a sold-out public event, “Designing the Middle Ages: The Costumes of Game of Thrones,” at the Getty Museum. The Copley Center also collaborated with UCLA’s Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies to present a panel discussion attended by UCLA students and faculty. On stage at the Bridges Theater, Clapton and Landis were joined by two UCLA art history professors and a medieval literature scholar for “Imagined Medievalisms: Costuming HBO’s Game of Thrones.”

Posted: January 23, 2017