Costumes and characters often share a profound connection. When a costume designer envisions a character's look, they carefully consider the "actor" who will wear the outfit and the "character" in the script, including the temporal and emotional context. The character's social environment and historical background play significant roles in this process. Similarly, actors have many aspects to delve into when shaping a character, and "costume design" is one of the key elements that can seamlessly transform an actor into a character. The process of an actor dressing up and their body language after donning the costume is also a ritual of entering the character.
Hwarng Wern-ying
Production designer, costume designer, and producer. After graduating with master’s degrees in theatre production from the University of Pittsburgh and in arts from Carnegie Mellon University, she worked as a costume and stage designer on Broadway until HOU Hsiao-hsien invited her to collaborate on his film Good Men, Good Women, thus kicking off her career in film. From capturing the magnificence of the Tang Dynasty to the restlessness of the millennial generation, her designs are based in realism yet evoke the subtle tones of the source material. She is a seven-time Golden Horse Awards nominee, winning Best Art Direction for Flowers of Shanghai and Best Makeup & Costume Design for The Assassin. She also brought Taiwan’s film aesthetic to the world stage as the supervising art director on Martin SCORSESE’s Silence.
