The man who dresses the stars

The man who dresses the stars

Emmy-nominated costume designer and fashion historian Lupt Utama on his glamourous career and future dreams

SOCIAL & LIFESTYLE
The man who dresses the stars
From left: On set of the BBC’s The Paradise Series 2, filmed in 2014, in Durham, UK. The costumes are of the 1870s, mid-Victorian fashion; One of the costumes designed by Lupt Utama. Photo courtesy of Lupt Utama

Hailing from Thailand and becoming involved in the world-class cinematic industry, Lupt Utama is undeniably a rare talent. The UK-based Thai costume designer has made stylistic contributions to Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason (2004), Alexander (2004), House Of Saddam (2008), The Duchess (2008), Clash Of The Titans (2010), The Impossible (2012), The Lost City Of Z (2016) and Beauty And The Beast (2017).

"My very first job I didn't even design," Lupt said of when he was 22 and worked as a costume trainee in the film business in the UK. "I was assisting costume fitters in undressing the extras and putting the costumes on the hangers and then putting them back on the rails."

It was probably the minor field in theatre studies he chose during his education in Chiang Mai University that paved the way for the fascinating world of costumes.

"I've always been interested in theatre design. I was trained in directing, costumes, make-up and hair design. It's the whole design process of theatre production. Hence, I already had the skills to put theatre productions together."

In his senior year, he took a three-month internship at Le Cabinet du Préfet (The Office of The Governor) in Strasbourg, France. Upon his return, fate offered perfect timing for the multilingual Chiang Mai native. Casting director Raweeporn Jungmeier came to his hometown in search of a casting assistant to work with supporting artists on a small French film production. Lupt was offered the job.

While working with the project, Lupt met Mutita Na Songkla, who he refers to as his "lifelong mentor". In 1999, he was again invited to work in the costume department because the role required someone who could converse in multiple languages. Lupt marked that as the official beginning of his career.

He worked on another foreign film a year later. The British movie spent six months shooting in Krabi. The production moved to London during the same time Lupt relocated to London to pursue his studies. Lupt continued to work with the team for a short period of time.

"That was how I got into the industry in the UK," he said. "During those first few years, I also had a good chance to work as a costume trainee at BBC Television Centre."

Already setting foot in the cinematic field in London, Lupt went deeper into costume making and costume design by learning how to "break down" costumes -- to age, transform and create effects for garments. His journey in the film industry evolves from being a costume assistant, a costume supervisor to an assistant costume designer.

"I've learned my craft by seeing how the assistant designers, designers or costume fitters put the costumes together, how they put the items or all the elements together: the colours, the patterns, the textiles, the fits, the cuts that they use. We can learn so much by observing how people work."

Costume design is a from-script-to-screen process where the costume department develops script reading, character interpretation, research and design into realisation.

"Costume designing is very different from fashion design," he said. "For the latter, you create a collection, contemporary fashion, but for the former, you create characters.

"By interpreting the characters, you have to look at them: who they are, what they are doing, what period is in the script and what is the culture or the social context embedded in the story."

A costume designer doesn't only design, source and organise the costumes for each production, but is also responsible for the continuity of costumes and understanding how each character develops throughout the filmmaking process.

"It's quite amazing when you go from the script to the screen. Once it's finished, you think: 'Oh my god, you just started from hundreds of pages of papers in black and white and transform to be a beauty of colours and everything'. It's quite magical."

Among costume designing efforts for both the big and small screens, Lupt received an Emmy Awards nomination in 2009 for outstanding costumes for House Of Saddam, a co-production between BBC Television and HBO Films.

"I was 31 years old and I got nominated. It was a huge deal for me," he enthused. "Even though I did not win, it was a great achievement for me. It's not about public recognition -- but to be recognised by my own industry for the role that I did. For me, it's a success."

A self-confessed "researcher at heart", Lupt finds that researching is his favourite part of the work as a costume designer. He converted his research enjoyment into scholarly pursuits. He was awarded the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) fashion history scholarship in 2013-2015 to complete a master's degree in history of design at the Royal College of Art, London, where he examined the fashion history of Thailand in the royal court of King Mongkut and King Chulalongkorn.

The fashion historian -- who has spent almost half of his lifetime in the British capital -- recently returned to Thailand to curate "Chattharat Phattraporn: Looking Back To Women's Attires In Global Fashion" at the National Library's Vajiravudhanusorn Hall, which runs until Oct 10.

Through 45 rare photographs developed from wet- and dry-plate collodion in the collection of the National Archives of Thailand, the exhibition is a chronology of women's fashion during the reign of King Vajiravudh, juxtaposed with Western style in three distinctive fashion eras: Late Edwardian to the Early Teens, Late Teens and Early Art Deco. According to the curator, this is one of his proudest projects where he could put his academic expertise to good educational use.

The 40-year-old has a rough plan for himself, saying "life begins at 40" in jest. He intends to earn a PhD before 45 and enjoys a new career, if he wants, in the next 15 years. Becoming a lecturer in history of design or dress history also is one of his goals where he can take advantage of his experience and knowledge to contribute to higher education in Thailand.

"I want to do a PhD where I really would like to combine both practical and academic skills together. With my experience in the field, I could use that to my advantage when I do my studies," said the dress historian, who is commencing his doctorate degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, next year.

"I can see myself and my life where I wanna go shaping up," he said. "The future is exciting. I don't know where it's going to be. But it's going to be exciting. I can use so many skills and put them together."

When asked what makes him who he is today, Lupt replied: "Ambition and hard work", after a long pause.

"When you dream, always dream big. Reach for your dream. Go for it. In the 1960s, people were already going to the moon. Now it's the 21st century, you can do anything.

"There's a very good quotation by Leo Burnett: 'When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either'. It sums up who I am and how I think today."

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