h&f people
“Fitting Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman mask was a sticky moment. Why cover such a beautiful face with a mask? The challenge was to get the exact fit”
Not Vin Ordinaire
When the lights come up and the cinema seats snap to the vertical you might just miss the aromatically named Vinilla Burnham as her name rolls through a film’s credits. But such an exotic name is responsible for many iconic moments in film and TV
by Louise Raisey
Vinilla is one of Hammersmith & Fulham’s most creative residents. She’s a costume designer and creator of creatures and she has an impressive and varied list of credits stretching from the Batsuit in Tim Burton’s Batman films to the creation of children’s TV characters the Boohbahs. Originally from Sussex, Vinilla, or Vin for short, settled in Olympia when she began working as a freelance costume designer. The daughter of actor parents, Vin seemed destined for the world of stage and screen. Born Vivien, she was renamed Vinilla by her friend Justin de Villeneuve who gave the world ‘Twiggy’.
Vin with Aslan from the BBC’s Chronicles of Narnia Picture credits: Warner Brothers Pictures, New Line Cinema, BBC Television, Graham Precey, Orange Pictures, Liam Daniel
Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman costume – “why would you want to cover such a beautiful face with a mask? The challenge was to get the fit exactly right so that it did not pinch her skin.” Vin now leads a team through major productions as well as pursuing solo projects. She has designed and created for a host of films including the Fifth Element and Lost in Space, as well as TV series and commercials and has worked with cartoonist Gerald Scarfe on exhibitions. What ever the period or the subject, there is always a new language to write. I am more often hired to create things to be invented, which I love.” There seems to be no end to the projects on the go or on the drawing board. Vin has also completed a job as costume design consultant on a new pre-school series ‘In the Night Garden’“I can’t reveal anything about it as it is still under wraps – but it will be a good one!” She also has projects in development with the producers of Big Cook Little Cook and has just designed a super-hero costume for a new government anti-binge drinking ‘ad’. All in all if you had to design a costume for Vin it would have to be extraordinaire. The new feature-length Wind in the Willows will be broadcast by the BBC on Boxing Day starring Matt Lucas, Bob Hoskins, Imelda Staunton and Mark Gatiss. You can find out more about the work of Vin Burnham by visiting www.vin-burnham.com or her new venture www.thelittlecostumeshop.com
Flying by the seat of your pants
So what’s the best part of your job? “The research, getting the ideas, the bit before reality kicks in like budgets, schedules and lack of casting!” To emphasise the reality point Vin has recently been to Romania to dress Little Britain’s Matt Lucas as Toad for a new BBC Wind in the Willows adaptation. A scene called for Toad to be dragged along behind a horse on his backside. Vin made sure the director got the message that the outrageous jodhpurs worn by Toad were not replaceable due to the tight budget. “In a perfect world you would have extra sets of costumes but reality means you have to cut your coat according to your cloth.” And what are you most proud of? “Aslan the Lion (from the BBC’s ‘Chronicles of Narnia’)…I always thought he looked more like a Golden Retriever and consequently felt like the family pet.” A view echoed by children who wrote fan letters to Aslan which the BBC kindly passed on to his creator.
A new adventure
The Little Costume Shop is Vin’s latest venture. It is a collection of quarter scale costume maquettes which Vin describes as ‘costume jewellery for the home’ and will be launched early next year. “I can do exactly what I want with colour and materials, and am using my collection of vintage fabrics, silks and sequins from as far back as the 1920s.” So, with such a varied career, what are the different creative challenges of designing for a period piece as against a fantasy or science fiction film? “Well a period piece can be researched whereas science fiction can’t in the same way.
Like a sponge
Vin’s apprenticeship began in the costume and props department at the Royal Opera House and she has risen from making and mending to designing costumes and creatures. “I’m like a sponge. I soak up everything in the business and when I was asked to sculpt a Bat cowl for the Batman film, working with Bob Ringwood, I enjoyed it so much I did the whole costume.” She does admit to some sticky moments like fitting
Vin’s favourite borough places are:
St Peter’s Square and walking along the Hammersmith/Chiswick Mall; and for lunch the Anglesea Arms pub, Wingate Road, W6.
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h&f news November 2006
www.lbhf.gov.uk
Twins welcomed
Hammersmith & Fulham’s Mayor welcomed visitors from the borough’s German twin town Berlin-Neukolln
h&f news
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The borough’s own ‘history boys’
Black history month was marked at a Fulham boys’ school with a line-up of high achievers from the real world. Six high-profile black speakers came to Henry Compton school to talk to the boys about their lives, their work and their experiences. Year 8 students filmed the event to make a minidocumentary and year 9 students reported on the event for the school newspaper. Dan Lyndon, head of history and the school’s ‘gifted and talented’ co-ordinator, said: “The boys asked the guests about the critical moments and the critical people that influenced them in their career choices. The most important message from our visitors was that the boys should make the most of whatever opportunities come their way and aim high.” The guests were Dr Hakim Adi, reader in the history of Africa at Middlesex University; Arthur Torrington OBE, secretary of the Equiano Society and the Windrush Foundation; Ashok Viswanathan, from Operation Black Vote; Elliott Tucker, filmmaker and founder of Film for Humanity whose recent projects have included helping young film-makers to mark the 70th anniversary of antifascist protests in east London; Makeda Coaston, manager of the London Mayor’s Commission for African and Asian Heritage, and Marcia Haynes, a solicitor.
Benefits cheat pays the price
A benefits cheat who swindled thousands of pounds while making cash on the side at a local hospital has been prosecuted by H&F Council. Forty-year-old Enovwo Ubogo deliberately concealed her job and secret second bank account so she could keep sponging housing benefits. Ms Ubogo, who also uses the surname Natufe, claimed she was unemployed and had only one bank account. In fact she was working all along at Hammersmith Hospital and hid a second bank account where she tried to conceal her wages. But suspicious council investigators caught Ubogo, of Lannoy Point, Fulham, when searches revealed her hidden stash. Council Investigators alerted police who arrested her at an address in Rainham, Essex. On September 19 at West London Magistrates Court Ubogu pleaded guilty to dishonestly making a false statement to claim benefits. The court heard how she swindled more than £3,000 worth of taxpayer’s money out of the council before her scheme came undone in 2005. Ms Ubogu was ordered to pay the benefits back as well as serving a 12 month community order involving 60 hours unpaid work for the borough. The council has a dedicated team of trained officers to investigate benefit fraud and will prosecute cheats who claim benefits they are not entitled to. To report cheats call 020 8753 1273.
Students at Henry Compton School meet guests at the Black History Month event.
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