And the Oscar goes to…
Mother, Grandmother and Master Costume Designer Colleen Atwood for Into the Woods? Maybe. We’ll soon find out. And to think she was TERRIFIED to take the job. But could anyone else have reinvented Cinderella’s look like that?
Image courtesy of Walt Disney Motion Pictures.
This week I was a lucky duck and somehow beyond all reason or logic scored access to Vanity Fair’s Social Club via Access Hollywood… tagged #VFSC for all of you who’ve been wondering what the heck I’ve been tweeting about. (It’s complicated.) This week-long party for online influencers dishes up tons of fun with panel discussions, beauty bars and fabulous sugar stacked taller than anything you’d imagine. (Yes I tried a chunk.)
Want some? ValerieConfections.com
Not to mention, I also got to find out what it takes to build a Chrysler from the inside-out – while freaking out first-class style with new friend Janzyland (girl’s a hoot and half on YouTube) – in a wild virtual experience tour that still has me trippin’. Just scoring this whacked-out pic were totally worth it. (I was looking to see what was under the seat, ok?!?)
So when it suddenly came time to hear costume designer Colleen Atwood talk movies, motherhood and making yourself do things for the hell of it, the sugar high and the virtual reality stuff suddenly got REAL My my.
“I was terrified to do it [design for Into the Woods]!” Colleen’s not the first successful woman I’ve heard this from.
You know what I’m personally terrified of, Colleen? Burning out. I’m all for scaring myself and trying new things and figuring out how to make things work in my own way (hey, I pretty much lied to score my first full-time reporting job back in the day… don’t try this at home kids), but the thought of burning out only to then find myself NOT doing anything that the pre-kids me did is what makes me really freeze up with fear. And here I tell my girls to not be scared of anything. Do as I say, not as I do. Everybody gets scared. Everybody burns out. Especially women. It’s real, no matter if you’re an award-winning designer or a stay at home mom.
Vanity Fair’s Punch Hutton (L) with Colleen Atwood (R) showcasing her new handbags.
So I kept things real and asked Colleen: As an artist who’s constantly thinking and creating and giving, how do you reboot if/when you find yourself stuck? (Not bad, right? I used to do this for a living, folks. Vanity Fair actually used Colleen’s answer to my question in their online piece. Why am I not getting paid for this again?) Here’s what she said (I was taking notes via my iPhone – with annoying autocorrect – as she answered me so some words might be not exactly verbatim… but here’s the 95% accurate gist):
“If I find myself at the end of a project, and just can’t look or think about it anymore [but still need to finish it], I do what I call a “lost” day…. a day about nothing at all. I totally step away from it. I take a walk, I don’t talk to anyone. Having a random day really helps me come back and finish things.”
A random day. A lost day. Now there’s a way to not freak out. It was then that I realized what an amateur I’ve turned into.
Being a mom of two, I’ve flat-out become much more wary of getting lost… I used to bungee (figuratively) into things and now I find myself thinking and weighing options and searching for more and more coffee to pull things off… sometimes finding myself saying ‘oh forget it’ because a little voice inside questions “Is is really worth it? You have kids now.” Also, what if I bungee and then have trouble finding myself again? I don’t have time for that. I admire Colleen for taking an opportunity that terrified her and then purposefully putting herself in a ‘lost place’ so that she could actually finish the job. Hm.
So what does having a random day and getting lost mean in mom-speak? Dunno. Is it hiring a sitter so you can stay in your room all day, take naps, eat ice cream without anyone under the age of 4 eating out of your bowl and watch bad reality TV without anyone knowing? Maybe. Let’s all get lost for one day, whattya say?
Because if getting lost can get you nominated for an Oscar and land your very own new (gorgeous and glam!) handbag line then we all need to get a little more random… and have real faith that if we do get ourselves lost, we’ll quickly find our ways back. Because we’re moms. We figure $hit out.
WHAT ARE YOU FRIGHTENED OF?
Sounds like a really great event! I loved Cindy’s dress in INTO THE WOODS, so how cool you got to hear her speak. And that cake, yummmmm!