Hollywood & Fairytales

Veteran Kiwi designer Kate Hawley has dressed a who’s who of A-list stars, but her latest project involved finding sweetness in the Grimm

- Sarah Catherall

Costume designer Kate Hawley has designed everything from gorgeous Victorian frocks for English theatrical productions to superhero costumes and robot outfits for blockbuster Hollywood movies.

When she talks to NEXT at 7pm on a weeknight, Kate is still at work on her latest production – designing the costumes for the first two episodes of the Amazon television series, Lord of the Rings. While it has been announced she is working on the gig, she can’t talk about it officially, except to say that it’s occupying her every moment. “We go to sleep, and we wake up and start again. But I love what I do and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

While everything happening in the Auckland-based production has to be kept under wraps until the TV show premieres, things are underway on another one of Kate’s projects in the costume department at the Royal New Zealand Ballet in Wellington.

In her 25-plus years as a costume designer, Kate has never designed garments for a ballet. It is fitting, then, that her debut will not only happen on New Zealand shores, but is based on one of her favourite childhood fairytales – Hansel & Gretel.

Kate’s designs are slowly being turned from beautiful sketches into alluring garments. Hansel and Gretel costumes hang on a rack, while the halffinished witch’s dress is draped on a mannequin: a vivid orange velvet number. Head costume designer Donna Jefferis pedals a sewing machine, while Hank Cubitt cuts patterns out of brown paper.

Hansel & Gretel is the national ballet company’s only full-length commission this year. It is a collaboration between three creative talents: Kate, who has also designed the set and props; composer Claire Cowan, who has created the musical score; and the ballet’s 31-year-old choreographer-in-residence, Loughlan Prior.