Who is Shirley Kurata, the creator of the barred looks of “Everything Everywhere All At Once”?

Mismatched floral prints for her skirt and jacket, apple green shoes with purple soles, pastel blue nails and huge round glasses: this is a simple everyday look for costume designer Shirley Kurata, which says a lot about her rich universe.

The outfits she has made contribute greatly to the success of this feature film, in which a simple laundromat owner tries to save a multitude of parallel universes from the clutches of a completely crazy super villain. With this film on the “multiverse” and its infinite possibilities, the two directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “encouraged me to flex my creative muscles”, tells AFP this fifties – she refuses to give her exact age but admits to belonging to the “generation X”. “So I thought, great, I’m going to have fun with this!”

The result is visually stunning. The character of Jobu Tupaki (Stephanie Hsu), the embodiment of nihilistic evil gnawing on a teenager for whom “nothing matters”, wears outfits that perfectly support the film’s absurd tone. The villain thus arrives in a pink wig and immaculate Elvis Presley costume with sequins, cigarette in beak and pig on a leash.

Arts and crafts

Capable of reducing his enemies to the state of confetti, this character with multiple personalities sports, then, as many looks as different moods. There’s Jobu, the icy one, in her neat golf outfit with checkered cardigan; Jobu, the sectarian, wrapped up in her majestic white dress with a Victorian collar to worship a bagel god; Jobu, the frenetic, with his yellow jumpsuit with teddy bear shoulders, straight out of a K-Pop album; or even Jobu in the middle of a crack, made up as a messy clown with a multitude of multicolored fabrics.

Basically, these “constant changes of clothes were not in the script” of the “Daniels”says Shirley Kurata. “So we brainstormed ideas, like having a golfer look, or a K-Pop star look, and that’s how this kind of collaborative work was born.” The film owes much to the ingenuity of its craftsmanship: the designer designed more than 100 costumes for this “multiverse” and its atypical superheroes, without ever sketching. “We had neither time nor budget”explains the artist who had to prepare everything in a month and a half. “The budget for the entire wardrobe of the film was probably the equivalent of a single Marvel costume.”

Halloween trend

The costume designer – who has worked with stars like Billie Eilish, Pharrell Williams and Lena Dunham – is no stranger to Hollywood glitz. But nothing could allow him to foresee the enormous success ofEverything Everywhere All At Once. This goofy independent film, nominated in 11 categories at the Oscars, has already met with great popular success, with 100 million dollars in box office receipts. Shirley Kurata didn’t really realize its impact until late October 2022, eight months after the theatrical release. “You know you’ve made it when people dress up as characters from the movie on Halloween,” she explains. “And Halloween came and there were so many people dressed up (as Jobu)!”

Born and raised in Los Angeles, the Japanese-born artist grew up in a laundromat, similar to the one run in the film by the heroine played by Michelle Yeoh. Collaborating on this feature film was “a perfect match”, she jokes. From childhood, she nurtured the dream of becoming a designer and learned to sew with her mother. After studying fashion design at Studio Bercot in Paris, she made a name for herself in the Californian entertainment industry. Alongside the clothing store she founded with her designer husband, she enjoys working for the cinema, thanks to “family spirit” film sets.

The designer is particularly proud to have been part of an innovative film, with a predominantly Asian cast. “It was a big win for the Asian community,” she testifies. “It’s late, but it’s wonderful”.