Milena Canonero

 ( 1946 Births ) 

Canonero’s next major film was Sydney Pollack's Out of Africa (1985), based on Danish author Karen Blixen's autobiographical memoir of the same name about her decade-long experiences in colonial Kenya starting just before the outbreak of World War I. Canonero faced a formidable challenge when tasked in a strict three-month term to research, design, and produce hundreds of costumes appropriate for a vast ensemble of characters that includes African natives, white hunters, and European nobility. It took her on an intense journey everywhere, from the New York Public Library to the various museums and costume houses across England and Italy, and from the Rungstedlund in Denmark to Africa, where she met anthropologist Richard Leakey, who consulted her on less known aspects of African fashion in the 1910s, especially those regarding the indigenous groups.

Beside her well-established screen career, Canonero is known for creating costumes for stage. She frequently collaborated with director Otto Schenk on his numerous opera productions. Those include Il trittico (Vienna State Opera, 1979), As You Like It (Salzburg Festival, 1980), Die Fledermaus (Vienna State Opera, 1980), Andrea Chénier (Vienna State Opera, 1981), and Arabella (Metropolitan Opera, 1983). Canonero provided the costumes and set design for Roman Polanski's 1999 production of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus at Milan's Teatro Manzoni. She also worked with director Luc Bondy on such productions as Tosca (Metropolitan Opera, 2009) and Helena (Burgtheater, 2010).

On television, Canonero designed costumes for crime drama series Miami Vice in the 1980s.

In 2001, Canonero received the Career Achievement Award in Film from the Costume Designers Guild. She won her third Oscar for Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006).

Canonero received her fourth Academy Award for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), directed by Wes Anderson. This marked her third collaboration with the director, as they had previously worked together on The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) and The Darjeeling Limited (2007).

Major associations

BAFTA Awards

Miscellaneous awards

• - Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic on 21 December 2015.

• Fabienne Liptay (ed.), Milena Canonero. Film-Konzepte 40 (edition text + kritik, 2015).