Shirley Kurata
Bornc. 1970 (age 53–54)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Wardrobe stylist, costume designer
Websiteshirleykurata.com

Shirley Kurata (born c. 1970)[1] is an American wardrobe stylist and costume designer based in Los Angeles, California. In 2023, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, for her work on the absurdist comedy-drama indie film Everything Everywhere All at Once.[2]

Kurata has won numerous awards including the Costume Designers Guild Award for Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film.[3]

Early life and education

Born in Los Angeles, Kurata grew up in the San Gabriel Valley,[1] the youngest of four children.[4] Her parents owned a laundromat.[4] She is Japanese American,[5] and has said that she was influenced by the "quirky and daring" fashions she saw in Japanese magazines.[1]

Kurata bought her first pair of "fashion glasses" from L.A. Eyeworks when she was 18, and continues to wear their large round frames.[6][4] At age 19, she left California to study fashion in Paris at Studio Berçot.[1][7]

Career

Early in her career, Kurata styled fashion shoots for photographer Autumn de Wilde, who went on to direct the 2020 feature film Emma.[7]

Kurata's clients have included celebrities such as Billie Eilish, Lena Dunham, Pharrell Williams, Zooey Deschanel, Beck, Mindy Kaling, and Tierra Whack.[4][1][8][5][7] She has styled collections for the Rodarte label by Americans Kate and Laura Mulleavy every year since its debut in 2006,[7][9] and also styled collections for Danish-born, UK-based designer Peter Jensen, who called her the "muse" who inspired his 2016 spring collection.[5]

In addition, Kurata has styled advertising campaigns for Kenzo and Oliver Peoples, and worked on short films for Prada and Miu Miu.[1][10] In 2015, she opened Virgil Normal, a streetwear boutique in East Hollywood featuring gender-neutral clothing, with Charlie Staunton.[1] In 2022, L.A. Eyeworks selected Kurata to model its new sunglasses collection, its first in a decade.[6]

Kurata has characterized her own aesthetic as "futuristic folky".[1]

Everything Everywhere All at Once

For Everything Everywhere All at Once, Kurata designed multiple looks for actors including Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, and Jamie Lee Curtis, as their characters traveled from the "main" universe to other parts of the multiverse.[11][4] For the film, Kurata was tasked with designing an extremely large number of costumes on a limited budget.[12] Kurata has said that co-directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert encouraged her to "Just go crazy, get creative", and that they aimed to create costumes that viewers would wear on Halloween.[12]

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kurata "subverted and reclaimed Asian-centric tropes" in styling the "outrageously outfitted personas" of Hsu's character, villain Jobu Tupaki,[13] to whom Kurata has said she relates.[4] Jobu Tupaki's many looks in the film include "Golfer Jobu" who wears a pink argyle vest and socks,[13] exemplifying "the perfect Asian daughter who excels at sports and everything else in her life" according to Kurata.[11] "Elvis Jobu", on the other hand, wearing an Elvis costume with pink hair and a cigarette, signals that she is antagonizing her mother.[11] Another is "Goth Jobu", who wears an "all-black and a vinyl A-line miniskirt over a sheer tulle petticoat", which The Hollywood Reporter notes is "a twist on anime cosplay's Victorian doll-inspired Elegant Gothic Lolita."[13] Yet another look is "Jobu K-Pop Star", influenced by K-pop and Harajuku street style.[13]

CBS News said the film's "gravitas" would not have been possible "without the creative vision behind the film's amazing (and often universe-defying) costumes – Shirley Kurata".[14] Insider observed that the film's costumes were "more than just clothes", since they convey "different iterations of each character" and "[place] the viewer in the numerous multiverses traversed throughout the film."[15]

Filmography

Year Title Role Ref.
1999 The Murder in China Basin Costume designer [16]
2000 Love & Sex Costume supervisor [17]
2006 Alpha Dog Lu [18]
2015 Seoul Searching Costume designer [19]
2022 Everything Everywhere All at Once Costume designer [7]

Awards

Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref.
2022 Academy Awards Best Costume Design Everything Everywhere All at Once Nominated [2]
Chicago Film Critics Association Best Costume Design Won [20]
Costume Designers Guild Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film Won [3]
Critics' Choice Movie Awards Best Costume Design Nominated [21]
Online Association of Female Film Critics Best Costume Design Won[a] [22]

Notes

  1. ^ Tied with Jenny Beavan, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Matthew, Zoie; Wakim, Marielle (August 22, 2018). "Meet 13 Powerful Women Who Are Making L.A. a Better Place". Los Angeles Magazine. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  2. ^ a b Botelho, Renan (January 24, 2023). "Best Costume Design Oscar Nominees 2023: A Closer Look". Women's Wear Daily. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  3. ^ a b Tancay, Jazz (February 27, 2023). "Costume Designers Guild Awards: 'Elvis' and 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Among Winners". Variety. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Hallock, Betty (June 7, 2022). "The Costume Designer at the Center of the Universes". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c Beker, Jeanne (February 9, 2016). "Japanese-American stylist Shirley Kurata on being both a collaborator and a muse". The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ontario. ProQuest 2383608176. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved January 27, 2023 – via ProQuest.
  6. ^ a b Moore, Booth (January 25, 2022). "L.A. Eyeworks Taps Stylist Shirley Kurata to Model First Sunglasses Collection in a Decade". Women's Wear Daily. Archived from the original on February 4, 2023. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d e Soo Hoo, Fawnia (February 28, 2023). "How 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Costume Designer Shirley Kurata Stylishly Traversed the Multiverse". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on March 3, 2023. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
  8. ^ Andrews-Dyer, Helena (January 25, 2016). "Meet the stylist behind Lena Dunham's Hillary Clinton campaign looks". Washington Post Blog. ProQuest 1759861003. Archived from the original on March 9, 2023. Retrieved January 27, 2023 – via ProQuest.
  9. ^ Smith, Mark (Autumn–Winter 2017). "Laura and Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte". The Gentlewoman. Archived from the original on March 4, 2023. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  10. ^ Marlowe, Rachel (March 24, 2022). "Miu Miu and Janicza Bravo Celebrate the Latest Installment of their Film Series with a Starry Screening Party". Vogue. Archived from the original on March 5, 2023. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  11. ^ a b c Seitz, Loree (January 3, 2023). "'Everything Everywhere All at Once': How Costume Designer Shirley Kurata Outfitted the Multiverse". The Wrap Magazine. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  12. ^ a b Hunt, A. E. (April 19, 2022). "'I Wanted the Hotdog Universe to Cross Over with the Taxes Universe': Costume Designer Shirley Kurata on Everything Everywhere All at Once". Filmmaker Magazine. Archived from the original on March 8, 2023. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  13. ^ a b c d Soo Hoo, Fawnia (December 5, 2022). "The Most Chaotic Fashions Across the Metaverse". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  14. ^ Jones, Zoe Christen (April 28, 2022). "'My kind of crazy': Costume designer Shirley Kurata on how 'Everything Everywhere' found its look". CBS News. Archived from the original on January 25, 2023. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  15. ^ Torres, Libby (May 6, 2022). "'Everything Everywhere All at Once' costume designer reveals the disemboweling scene that had to be cut — and the hardest outfit she had to make for the film". Insider. Archived from the original on March 9, 2023. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  16. ^ Linden, Sheri (August 2, 1999). "The Murder in China Basin". Variety. Archived from the original on March 5, 2023. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  17. ^ "Shirley Kurata". BFI. Archived from the original on March 5, 2023. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  18. ^ "Alpha Dog – Full cast & crew". TV Guide. Archived from the original on March 5, 2023. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  19. ^ Caranicas, Peter (September 4, 2014). "Indie Film 'Seoul Searching' is a Melting Pot of a Production". Variety. Archived from the original on March 5, 2023. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  20. ^ "'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Leads Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, Wins Six Honors". Screen Magazine. December 15, 2022. Archived from the original on March 9, 2023. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  21. ^ Panaligan, E. J.; Earl, William (January 15, 2023). "Critics' Choice Awards 2023 Full Winners List: 'Everything Everywhere All at Once,' 'Abbott Elementary' and 'Better Call Saul' Take Top Honors". Variety. Archived from the original on January 16, 2023. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  22. ^ "Online Association of Female Film Critics 2022 Awards – Winners". Online Association of Female Film Critics. December 20, 2022. Archived from the original on January 1, 2023. Retrieved March 4, 2023.

External links

Costume Designers Guild Award for Excellence in Fantasy Film
Categories