MARIT ALLEN/WELL DRESSED TALENT

There are so many important, yet unfamiliar stories in the world. The untimely death of British costume designer Marit Allen is one of them.

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She broke into the business in the early 70s on Nicolas Roeg’s classic Don’t Look Now (handling wardrobe for Julie Christie) and handled Roeg’s Bad Timing.

Not a bad start for a young lass from Cheshire.

She worked non-stop, one might even say relentlessly during the 80s, which is not too surprising.

But still it is astounding to review the range of her expertise, spanning many periods of history and all parts of the globe.

Early on she picked up credits for British successes from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Little Shop of Horrors to White Mischief, leading on to Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut.

During this time her reputation had spread far beyond Britain and she was increasingly involved in major Hollywood productions, including Mrs Doubtfire (an interesting costume challenge, indeed) and the US Civil War tale Ride With the Devil, directed by Ang Lee, which won her the sensitive job on Brokeback Mountain, and All The King’s Men (main photo).

More recently she was in South America with Britain’s Mike Newell on Love in the Time of Cholera (pictured above)and La Vie En Rose, for which she was Oscar nominated.

At the time of her sudden and entirely unexpected death last November – from an aneurysm - she was in Australia, cutting the cloth for Justice League of America, in which Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and other superheroes unite to to fight against evil forces.

It is easy to imagine the amusement she would have had working on the dress for this colourful array of characters. And easier still to imagine how much they will miss her contribution.

Filed February 27, 2008.