Meet Claire Mildred

Today we’d like to introduce you to Claire Mildred.

Hi Claire, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
Of course! From a young age I’ve always had a ferocious appetite for the creative. Whether it was drawing or sticking everything I could find together with hot glue, I always kept busy. I spent my summers and weekends holed up in the basement surrounded by a hurricane of craft supplies as I created my portfolio for college. Dresses made from paper clips, garbage bags, macrame, paper cranes and yarn crowded the space around me and went on to win a national silver medal at the Scholastics Art & Writing Competition. I found myself drawn to loud patterns and crazy materials and even participated in Duct Tape’s Stuck at Prom competition, coming in fifth place with all the silver holographic duct-tape money could buy.

That passion for crazy materials intertwined itself with my love for storytelling and I decided to pursue a degree in costume design. I attended Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama where I honed my craft and prepared to enter the industry. Determined to move out to LA I submitted for, and was accepted as, the Television Academy’s costume design intern. Looking back, I’m incredibly grateful to have been surrounded by mentors in the academic and professional sphere who believed in me and supported me pursuing my dream career. Despite the pandemic and the 2,000+ mile move away from where I grew up, I’m now happy to call Los Angeles my forever home.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Like most people in this field of work, I do it because I love it. My art is born out of the profoundest of passions, and while it can be an incredibly rewarding experience, it is also a double-edged sword.

As someone whose identity was incredibly interwoven with my work, it was devastating on a molecular level when the pandemic stopped the world. Everything I had done up to that point was in preparation to join an industry that had just closed its doors. For the first time, I had to grapple with where my personality stopped and where my career started. As a part of an industry that glorifies long hours and complete commitment, it can feel unnatural to draw boundaries when every fiber of your being is telling you to work more and work harder. It took an actual worldwide disaster to get me to value myself, my time and my wellness, and as I move forward I work hard to maintain this balance and practice self-care, something I think this industry could always use a little more of.

After all, the tortured artist is a myth, and everyone deserves the bandwidth to show up every day with kindness and compassion.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
You know, I do pride myself in being an inquisitive and analytical Costume Designer. I enjoy chewing over all the nuances of a script and collaborating to breathe life into characters. But who better to ask about my work than my fellow collaborators?

Max Tzannes (Director) Dirty Shot Clean
I had the pleasure and good fortune of collaborating with Claire on my first feature film. As costume director, she was tasked with dressing dozens of characters during the peak of the pandemic, all while operating on a (clears throat) modest budget. From pre-production to wrap, Claire was the embodiment of professionalism and high-level artistry. She has a keen sense of character and story, to the point that I had multiple actors giddily sharing character discoveries made during their fitting. Claire more than captured my vision for each character; she enhanced it.

Tyler Friesen (Producer) Dirty Shot Clean
The best way to describe Claire is to say that she is superhuman. She is professional, kind, creative, and hardworking in everything she does.Under a tight timeline and limited budget, Claire succinctly analyzed the script and delivered high-caliber designs that seamlessly complimented the story and elevated the production value. She excelled far beyond all of my expectations, with her acute eye for detail and dedication to quality. I would wholeheartedly recommend her for any project and can’t wait to work with her again.

Ashleigh Coffelt (Director) Miss Ash Productions
Claire has an in-depth understanding and passion for storytelling through wardrobe that can only be described as breathtaking. She brings the script to life through each character with meticulous attention to detail. Claire treats each collaborator she works with kindly, professionally, and with the utmost care. It’s an honor to collaborate on every project we have the chance to, and I’ll never stop recommending Claire to level up projects!

Courtney Birk (Producer/Actor) Miss Ash Productions
Claire is the first costume designer I have ever worked with and she’s perfection. She makes sure that you’re comfortable but also brings an incredible unique vision to the script and your character. Her passion is unparalleled.

Fiorella Vescovi (Director/Producer/Actor) Plexus & Solar
From my very first meeting I had with Claire you could tell this wasn’t just another stylist/wardrobe person I had encountered. Claire was present, excited and interested in the story as a whole. She understood my vision right from the beginning. She was curious, asked questions and made sure she came in to elevate what I had in mind. She handles each character with such specificity and that’s exactly what made all the difference. Her detailed oriented approach and care as a whole for the overall arch of the story is what distinguishes her in her craft. I am excited for our future projects together and to keep growing as a team. Thank you Claire for your outstanding job in Mal De Amores!

Evie Abat (Director/Producer) #TSW Creatives
I had no idea what went into costume design beyond being an actor, meaning I didn’t really know how much clothing really helped propel the story and character development in terms of the production side of things. Usually, costume people take my measurements with an idea in mind, and I wear it and do my actor thing. As the writer, director, producer of my first indie film—Dad’s Gone Wild—costumes took on a whole new meaning, thanks to Claire. To be honest, as the producer, I was really concerned about the budget and only wanted to work with minimal purchases and the actors’ own wardrobes. In other words, I wanted to cheap out. But, after seeing the amazing presentation that Claire had prepared for our costume parade online, I was (more lol) onboard for the extra expenditures. My co-producer and I were blown away. There’s an actual storyline WITH THE COSTUMES. WHAT?! It was way beyond what I could have ever imagined. Every purchase supported the story, especially the banger of the outfit that my main character wears on our poster: A hot pink suit paired with a sunflower top. WHO KNEW?! And the sunflower top coincided with the main character’s deceased wife. That’s why there are AWARDS for costume design! Every costume revealed character in a non-verbal, cohesive way throughout the film. Working with her was an education in the importance of this often overlooked department. I really loved how much care and thought Claire put into every character and costume in every scene, even though I would have been OK with “good-enough-because-BUDGET”. But I think adding Claire and her vision to the project rounded out the piece beautifully by adding subtle and not-so-subtle emotional layers to every character and made the story pop. I couldn’t be more thankful for the work that she did on our project!

Tiger Ji (Director)
Claire was a wonderful presence to be with throughout our production. She is conscientious, extremely organized, a great researcher, and always ensures our visions are aligned with her costumes. She is flexible and willing to take on the challenges and turbulence of working on an indie set — like dressing upwards of 50 extras in an hour all on her own! Definitely a talent to look out for in the industry, and I’d love to work with her again!

Anika Kan Grevstad (Director) Broken Slate Productions
Claire is both incredibly creative and logistically organized, which made working with her on my indie short an absolute dream. She created a unique, retro futuristic look for our sci-fi story, and helped build the world and elevate the story with her work. From custom embroidery to creative combinations of everyday clothes, Claire was able to make all of our costume dreams come true while always staying within our budget and schedule. And on top of it all, she’s an absolute pleasure to work with!

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I’ve always revelled in the power of a costume to build up or break down a character. As a professional I use clothing to bring out the personality and affirm the gender of the character who wears it, I make the outside of the body match the person inside. I hope in the future individual people will dress like themselves with more heart and honesty to who they are on the inside. I think there’s a lot of pressure to consume and follow trends and in consequence to waste. I hope as we move forward the newest trend will be wearing whatever you like for however long it makes you happy. And that as a collective we consume less clothing and enjoy it for longer.

Image Credits:
Kiera Wight Tyler Friesen Veronica Zin Marshall Hall