NYWIFT Blog

Behind-the-scenes with Costume Designer Ornella
Chiossone

 – by Margarita Cortes

Through the power of social media, I was contacted by an up
and coming costume designer, Ornella
Chiossone, who was working on a film project in
Brooklyn. She met me on the first day of production inside the trailer, nestled
between the wardrobe she coordinated for an independent feature film production
in Williamsburg. There we began our conversation on her creative process, her
favorite projects and her international fashion background.

Ornella’s journey to Brooklyn as a costume
designer was an interesting one. Born in Venezuela, Ornella says she always
loved fashion and film. She lived in
Paris and Madrid for 5 year prior to coming to America. Overseas she worked in
photography, advertising and PR for fashion.
She also worked for the Spanish fashion designer, Agatha Ruiz de La Prada. “Her
designs are very bright, fun and very elaborate.” Boy, she wasn’t kidding –
check out these incredible runway shots from 2015.

Ornella found herself wanting more and after exhausting all
of her resources in Spain, she flew across the ocean for the big apple. “I love Brooklyn, there are always things
going on!” She quickly landed a fashion PR job in NYC and was sent to a
film shoot, where she found herself immediately drawn to the wardrobe
department. Surrounded by amazing costume pieces, she found her calling to work
in fashion, costumes, cameras and behind the scenes.

Ornella contacted the Director right away and asked if she
could help in any capacity on the film. Eventually she stayed working as a production
assistant and helped out in the wardrobe department. Her ambition grew fast and
after a couple of production assistant jobs, she was signed on as an official
costume designer. “That’s what I love
about NY” she gleefully shared with me, “everywhere
you go on a film shoot, you meet people and then from there, you just get
started.”

After meeting with the film director and reading the script
Ornella says she gets her best creative ideas while riding the MTA subway
lines. “I took a picture of a character
on the subway and then showed the look to the director and we worked from
there.” All together, it took about two weeks for the creative process and
one week to pull clothes and after 20 days of shooting she’s off to her next
project: “I’ll be working on a television
pilot in Long Island!”

Through our conversations, I introduced her to New York Women in Film & Television
and she joined right away in hopes to continue building her career among a
network of industry leaders..

She was excited to hear about the workshops, programs
and the Designing Women Gala, which
honors women in her field. “I can’t wait to celebrate a fantastic evening among
my new fellow NYWIFT members!”

Ornella joined NYWIFT in May 2015, just wrapped up an
indie film project and available now for your next project. She can be reached directly
on Twitter @ornechio and Instagram @ornechioss.

*NYWIFT Fall Membership
drive has begun! Join New York Women in Film & Television now and take advantage of all the benefits. From now until
Dec 1, take 50% off the initiation fee. 

Apply here: https://www.nywift.org/join