Renowned British Costume Designer Sandy Powell Honored with BAFTA Fellowship

Sandy Powell made history on Sunday as the first costume designer ever to receive the British Academy Film Awards Fellowship (BAFTA). It is the highest accolade bestowed by BAFTA upon an individual in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, games or television. .

Sandy Powell is one of the world’s most revered costume designers. Her visual masterpieces span three-and-a-half decades of some of the most iconic films of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries and have garnered multiple awards. Her extensive body of work spans period films from The Favourite and Shakespeare in Love to fantasy productions including Mary Poppins Returns and Cinderella, to Wolf of Wall Street, The Irishman and Velvet Goldmine.

She will work closely with the arts charity over the coming year to inspire and nurture aspiring costume designers through BAFTA’s year-round learning, inclusion and talent programs. Costume Design has been an awards category since 1963, and is represented across numerous BAFTA initiatives and its public program.

The Fellowship presented to Sandy Powell during the ceremony as part of a special commemoration of her prolific and influential work to-date. The awards took place at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.

Sandy Powell, said: “I am hugely flattered to receive the BAFTA Fellowship and especially proud to be the first Costume Designer. I am lucky in that I love what I do and have been extremely fortunate to have collaborated with some of the most talented and inspirational people in the industry both behind and in front of the camera. I look forward to many more years to come.”

Watch below for Sandy Powell’s full acceptance speech where she individually thanks each member of the Costumes department.