BAFTA winning costume designer Jacqueline Durran talks about her role in the new Pride And Prejudice adaptation.

Jacqueline Durran has worked in the costume department of an impressively diverse range of films: from Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake, to Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and, most recently, the brand new Jo Wright adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley.

Here, she tells us about her inspiration, and explains how the latest Hollywood costume drama, due for release on 16 September, will influence high street fashion.

How did you become a costume designer?
At the age of 20, after studying philosophy, I realised that costume designing existed as a job! I thought it would be wonderful to work alongside actors and directors in the theatre or on film sets. I found some work in a costume hire house, where I got to know designers who came in to get inspiration for their work. I then became an assistant in the wardrobe departments of the Mike Leigh film, Topsy-Turvy and James Bond, Die Another Day.

What's the design process on a major feature?
It’s different on every feature, but what usually happens is you’re interviewed for the position when the film is still in the planning stage. If you’re given the job, you have a preparation period in which you go away, do your research and begin making clothes. On Pride And Prejudice this period was only nine weeks. During this time, I had an assistant working for me, who’d go out and buy fabrics and materials for me to look at. You always hope that casting will happen as soon as possible, so that you can start taking measurements and making costumes with an actor in mind. The department draws up a ‘costume plot’ – detailing exactly how many different changes of clothes each character will need. You’ll then look at the director’s order of filming, and begin to make the costumes in the order that they will be needed. As well as an assistant, there’ll also be a person who does the fittings and takes care of the physical wardrobe, and, as was the case on Pride And Prejudice, a person who’s job it is to make the clothes look older than they really are!

Various productions of Pride And Prejudice have come and gone over the years. How did you make sure that the costumes in this new version stood out?
The first thing I did was ban myself from watching any previous adaptations. I knew it would be too difficult not to be influenced and I wanted to produce as fresh a look as possible. Secondly, most film versions of the book were set in and around 1815. The director decided that this version would be set in 1796/7, so we were talking about a different era of fashion. I took inspiration from original references – paintings of the period and surviving costumes.

The styles worn by actors in films often influence real life fashion. Could that be the case with Pride And Prejudice?
It will, as it has done on so many previous occasions. In the 1960s, Doctor Zhivago inspired the Russian peasant look. I’ve already been interviewed by an American magazine, whose editor believes that the film will inspire the Empire line. That’s not to say that Pride And Prejudice will start this trend or that it will become a dominant look in mainstream fashion; it may well just tap into an idea that’s already around and be adopted by the fringes. When I’m designing costumes for a film, I’m not in a bubble; I’m influenced by everything around me. The costumes in Pride And Prejudice reflect, to some extent, what’s going on in the world of fashion at the moment, and by the same token, could well influence new looks.

Read more about Pride And Prejudice and other new film releases on Channel 4's film website.