Elizabeth Haffenden
Elizabeth Haffenden | |
|---|---|
| Born | 18 April 1906 Croydon, Surrey, England |
| Died | 29 May 1976 (aged 70) London, England |
| Occupation | Costume designer |
| Years active | 1934–1975 |
Elizabeth Haffenden (18 April 1906 – 29 May 1976) was a British costume designer. Her accolades include two Academy Awards and a BAFTA Award. She is best known for creating the costumes for most of the Gainsborough melodramas.
Life and career
Elizabeth Haffenden was born in Croydon to wholesale draper James Wilson-Haffenden and Edith Carruthers. Elizabeth Haffenden trained at Croydon School of Art and the Royal College of Art. After working as a commercial artist she entered theatre costume design working with Laurence Irving.[1]
Haffenden's first film costume designs were for Colonel Blood (1933, working alongside art directors Laurence Irving and John Bryan.[1] In 1939 she joined Gaumont British film studios, and from 1942–1949 she was in charge of the costume department for the popular cycle of Gainsborough melodramas, produced at Shepherds Bush.[1] These included The Man in Grey (1943) and The Wicked Lady (1945). Costume historian Pam Cook has described Haffenden's Gainsborough projects as "visually splendid ... and the company promoted several of the films on the basis of their costumes". Haffenden's designs for Caravan (1944) and The Wicked Lady (1945) anticipated the post-war new look fashion style, and offered "extravagant sexual display" through low cut bodices and translucent fabrics.[1] Costumes from The Wicked Lady were acquired for the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum.[2]
In the 1950s Haffenden worked as resident costume designer for the British branch of MGM-British studios, Elstree.[3]
From the late 1950s Haffenden worked as a freelance costume designer with Joan Bridge, who had worked as a Technicolor consultant at Gainsborough in 1946, where the pair met.[3] Haffenden and Bridge worked together on period dramas, comedies and thrillers, starting with Ben Hur (1959), which won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design.
Haffenden and Bridge were frequent collaborators with director Fred Zinnemann. They worked on five films for Zinnemann, across a range of periods and locations that required thoughtful costuming, including The Sundowners (1960), set in 1920s Australia, the Spanish-set Behold a Pale Horse (1964), Tudor drama A Man for All Seasons (1966) and the recent history of Day of the Jackal (1973).
Haffenden and Bridge were jointly nominated for British Academy of Film and Television Awards (BAFTA) for The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965) and Half a Sixpence (1967), and were awarded a BAFTA and Oscar for A Man for All Seasons (1966).
In subsequent decades Haffenden and Bridge designed costumes for notable films including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1968) and Fiddler on the Roof (1971).[1]
Haffenden died in London on 29 May 1976, while she was prepping costumes for the film Julia.[1]
Filmography
Awards and nominations
| Award | Year | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | 1959 | Best Costume Design – Color | Ben-Hur | Won | [4] |
| 1966 | A Man for All Seasons | Won | [5] | ||
| British Academy Film Awards | 1965 | Best British Costume Design – Colour | The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders | Nominated | [6] |
| 1967 | A Man for All Seasons | Won | [7] | ||
| Half a Sixpence | Nominated |
References
- ^ a b c d e f Cook, Pam. "Haffenden [Wilson-Haffenden], Elizabeth (1906–1976), costume designer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001 (inactive 5 May 2025). Retrieved 19 March 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of May 2025 (link) - ^ Haffenden, Elizabeth (1945), The Wicked Lady, retrieved 3 April 2025
- ^ a b Cook, Pam (1996). Fashioning the nation: costume and identity in British cinema. London: British Film Institute. pp. 129–135. ISBN 978-0-85170-469-2.
- ^ "32nd Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 5 October 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
- ^ "39th Academy Awards". Oscars.org. 4 October 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
- ^ "19th BAFTA Film Awards". British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Retrieved 4 February 2023.
- ^ "21st BAFTA Film Awards". British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Retrieved 4 February 2023.