WTI Magazine #55    2015 March, 6
Author : Edoardo Peretti      Translation by: John Cabot University

A year after, at the Oscars Academy Awards, Italy has gained again a pinch of success following the triumph of La Grande Bellezza as the best foreign film at the Oscars. The merit goes to one of many Italian artists/artisans who donate their essential contribute to the American and worldwide cinema (such as the editor Pietro Scalia or the set designer Dante Ferretti). The costume and set designer Milena Canonero won her fourth Oscar of her successful career as costume designer of Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson.

Although Milena Canonero won fourth Oscars, she had been nominated nine times: the first nomination was in 1976 for Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon; in 1982 for Chariots of Fire by Hugh Hudson; then in 2007 for Marie Antoniette by Sofia Coppola. Other nominations: My Africa Sydney Pollack and Dick Tracey by Warren Beatty.

Milena Canonero was born in Turin but she was artistically educated in London. She had the chance to work with Stanley Kubrick who chose her, although she was debuting, as costume designer for Clockwork Orange. She had the intuition of the bower hat worn by "Droogs", the famous gang, as well as the costumes for Barry Lyndon and Shining. Her career owned a lot to Kubrick, one of the most important directors of Modern Cinema who helped his technical colleagues to give their best and improve their professional skills.

Besides Kubrick, Milena Canonero worked for other important directors and authors as Francis Ford Coppola who chose her for the showy costumes of Cotton Club and for the elegant suits of The Godfather: part III. During the last years, Milena Canonero has been working with Wes Anderson, a kind of director who pays extremely attention to visual and set design aspects of his movies. In Anderson's film, she has been engaged in the creation of costumes for The Life Aquatic with Stevie Zissoue, The Darjeeling Limited and Grand Budapest Hotel.

In addition to her commitment in movies, Milena Canonero worked for many opera productions in theatres all over the world. In 2001, she won her life achievement award assigned by Costume Designers Guild, an important praise for her art and hard work.

The wish is that her prestige and her numerous awards can increase the attention and the acknowledgment on her career around the world, as well as on the other Italian artists and technicians who contribute with their work to the movie business although they remain unknown by newspapers and the public knowledge.