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As a child I read stories, drew the characters and dressed them.

The game began after coming across '

', the novel by

which fascinated her.

She portrayed the protagonists, imagined them and decorated them with fabrics.

She was 14 years old and at that time she did not know that she was starting to make costumes.

"She did it without realizing it, in a totally naive way," says

, today one of the most renowned wardrobe directors in our country.

To her credit, two Goya Awards -for

and

-, the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts, which the Kings awarded her in 2016, and the satisfaction of work with the best

to

...

We caught up with her while she's in

, shooting

She is her favorite director, the one she has repeated with the most times and whom she considers almost family.

"

", she says, "because there are many years of relationship with him, I have that fortune; he is a very faithful person".

Although when it comes to choosing, she finds it hard to decide, because "with all the good

you learn, and the bad ones, it's better to forget them."

But hers with

is another story, she considers him "a true author, a

. He is a very serious director, very demanding, but he also knows how to generate a very

climate when he shoots",

who sometimes accompanies him.

"He has a way of conceiving

that, unfortunately, is disappearing. What is being done now in the world is not cinema, it is a product, the one made by the

, which is designed from the

."

Born in

in 1964, into a family of painters - "as a child I drew and made my little squares, encouraged by my mother" - Sonia started

because she liked the theater, although she did not know very well what to do.

She was not clear on anything;

she was very young and she needed to pay for her apartment, so anything was worth it, also the

.

Those were the years of the

and she ended up hosting 'Tablón de aunciones' and 'Planta baja'.

"I have never had a vocation as a presenter, far from it, but what I had then was a face from here to Lima," she laughs, remembering it.

She spent almost four years in front of the cameras, until things "became more serious" and she had to leave him;

and

, at the

had reached the world of costumes.

And he already knew his place.

carolina santos noval

To design costumes for movies, do you have to be passionate about fashion or is this something else? It's something else.

I love it and I understand that people confuse it, but it is not necessary, although it helps.

What you do need is to be informed, you need enormous knowledge of previous times and you have to know not only about fashion, but also about history, art, literature... Because as you investigate you come across millions of things that They give references and help you to build the characters in a broader, more serious, fun and imaginative way. Are costume designers also creators of fashion and trends? More than generating fashion, films generate a romanticism that firms take advantage of to create your articles.

For example, when Milena Canonero made 'Out of Africa'

the entire season the following year revolved around the safari style.

Fashion designs for faceless people, but we do have faces, characters.

That is why the brands always dress the actresses, with them they raise the suit, take a life that does not have on the catwalks.

Does cinema need fashion or rather the opposite? Cinema doesn't need fashion at all.

I don't think fashion needs cinema either, but it suits it well.

They are two worlds that can function autonomously, but they use each other because they are part of life.

Pedro Almodóvar has just shot a short produced by Saint Laurent, a bit like West Anderson does when he films Prada commercials;

They're great collaborations, but that doesn't mean we need each other. You've dressed Tilda Swinton in Balenciaga in 'The Human Voice',

a spectacular short by Almodóvar that shines precisely for this reason, and it is common to see Hermès or Prada in your films.

Do you have some leading brands? I really like very contemporary designers, but it depends on the designer that the brands have and the direction they are taking at that moment.

Hermès is a brand that seems impressive to me, I love touching their things, that elegant design, so classic... What Balenciaga does, too.

And Galliano drove me crazy;

I venerate it, even now when I pass through Margiela I cross myself (laughs).

He would have been a huge film designer, one of the greatest, because he would have understood this world very well.

He was a genius, spectacular.

Does creating a good wardrobe depend on a good budget? It has a lot to do with it, of course.

But I also trust the initiative of the team a lot: if you have a great team,

With little money, life will be sought to do interesting things.

But if you have neither talent nor money, close the kiosk.

And if there isn't a feeling of going forward and doing something nice in the team, even if you have money, it won't work out either.

You need both.

I have made films with little money that have turned out very nice.

But the big ones, the ones we all remember, have cost a lot of money.

All things that increase quality, cost.

they have cost a lot of money.

All things that increase quality, cost.

they have cost a lot of money.

All things that increase quality, cost.

Sonia Grande with the Goya for Best Costume Design for 'While the war lasts' (January 2020).GTRES

So that everything fits,

faces the moment of creating a wardrobe with a "brutal investigation", something that amuses her a lot because she "loves to

".

"When I read the script ideas appear, and when I investigate they take shape in the characters and that helps me to make the composition. From there I make a series of references or drawing, it depends on the time I have and the type of film" , he explains to us.

If the tape is

times, they usually buy the clothes, if it is a historical period "you have to make it, buy the fabrics, dye them, talk to the tailors... This tailor shop is very interesting, they are

and they know how to cut the 18th, the 17th... They don't work for the street, only for the movies and their way of sewing is a bit like

, all handmade, very carefully and with many tests of the actors," he says.

In this part she is very demanding.

"I like that they are happy, that they feel good in their character's clothes. It is terrible that an actor wears something that does not support well, it does not seem fair to me. When he enters a changing room it is a situation that I consider uncomfortable, because they have to

in front of several people and they may feel

. Even if their physique is never questioned, it is delicate. You have to create a warm, comfortable work atmosphere. The moment "Hi, I'm so-and-so,

" is hard, complicated, but it's part of the job. You have to create an

warm for these situations.

It's actually a team effort, you accompany them to build a character, you have the external work and they the internal one", she assures.

Penélope Cruz on the recording set of 'The girl with your eyes'.GTRES

Has anyone refused to wear something? I don't have those experiences, it would seem like a caricature to me, I don't see it as serious on the actor's part. You've worked with all the great Hollywood stars, Meryl Streep, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman ... Who do you stay with? With all of them, I really like actors.

I studied at the Conservatory of Dramatic Art, and initially doing the same thing as them has helped me to understand them, to understand the way they try to deepen the character.

I am zero mythomaniac.

Meryl Streep is wonderful, but Nicole Kidman is also wonderful. And who would you like to work with that you haven't already done? Daniel Day-Lewis fascinates me... I would put him on the list of the three best actors in the world.

I love him, although I think he doesn't work anymore, now he's a shoemaker.

And there are many directors... Polanski,

Scorsese... In any case, I'll do what life brings me and spend as much time with Polanski as the next one who calls me.

I am a very hard-working person (laughs).What is the movie you would have liked to make? I can't tell you a specific one, but I would have loved to work with Fellini, even if I had been an assistant to the last of his assistants.

I would have loved to live the experience.

Its designer, Dario Donati, who was with him the longest, is a genius of geniuses... I would have given my right hand, maybe not so much... (laughs) to work in that era of Italian cinema. Where is more Is it easy to work, in Europe, in the United States or in Spain? More than the country, it depends on the producer with whom you are, who is good, understands and knows how.

And don't think it's easy.

When you work with someone who has experience, you understand each other very well.

What does a costume designer keep in her closet? A mix of things.

You can find a Moncler coat, which I really like to shoot because it's very warm, and an old Chanel bag, or a couple of them.

But also three pants from Zara and a shirt from H&M.

I really like to buy clothes on trips, I love to bring something with me. And when you make a period film, where do you buy and find the clothes? That's the big problem with period cinema right now.

Usually in Italy.

I usually go to Florence, because there are many weaving factories there and we buy large quantities.

But I also go to London, Paris... and bizarre places... it's an international search.

I kill for the fabrics (laughs).

Because they are the basis of everything, it is fundamental, extremely important.

And it is a search that is becoming more and more complex because the fabric businesses disappear.

In Madrid I buy a lot in a store called José María Ruiz, very exquisite, it has natural silks and precious stones that you can't find anywhere, because almost all of them are brought from India.

It is expensive, but beautiful and with impressive quality.

Is your profession valued in our country?

Do you live well? It is better valued outside.

But you can live well, because now there is a lot of work.

And it is a very good profession to dedicate yourself to it. What do you have left to do? Retire (laughs), but in the sense of doing only what I like.

What I have left to do is start traveling more with Rafa, my husband, because we don't have that time to go on long trips and I really want to dedicate myself to my things;

so the next movie will be better for me,

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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