Jenny Beavan


Jenny Beavan, OBE is an English costume designer. She has won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design in 1986 for A Room With A View. She also won another Academy Award and the BAFTA Award for Costume Design for , and has been nominated 10 times for the Academy Award. Beavan also received a Tony Award nomination for Best Costume Design for the play Private Lives.

Early life

Beavan was born in London, England. Her father was a cellist, her mother a viola player. She credits them for instilling a strong work ethic. She also has a sister.

Career

Jenny Beavan is known for her work on Merchant Ivory films. In the 1970s, she worked on set design for London theatrical productions. She joined the field of film costume design after obtaining an unpaid position to design garments for a small Merchant Ivory film, Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures. This began her long relationship with Merchant Ivory productions.
She has frequently worked with costume designer John Bright, who runs the costume-rental house Cosprop, and credits him with educating her as she was starting out her career. She said she was helped by "just listening to him and learning from him, learning the history and the politics of clothing". Since then, the two have collaborated on more than ten films together and have shared six Oscar nominations.
In 2016, Beavan won the BAFTA for Mad Max: Fury Road.
Beavan was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to drama production.
In June 2018, Beavan was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by Arts University Bournemouth alongside dancer Darcey Bussell, graphic designer Margaret Calvert OBE and director and screenwriter Edgar Wright.

Personal life

She has one daughter, Caitlin, a theatre producer born in 1985. They worked together on the West End theatre production of Third Finger Left Hand at Trafalgar Studios in 2013.

Film credits

Academy Award nominations

The Academy Awards has recognized Beavan's costume work ten times, with her winning the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for A Room with a View and '.