It has been around 48 years since Kerala government instituted the film awards to honour the best works of each year. But it was in 2016 that for the first time an award from the state government went to Wayanad. Costume designer Stephy Xavior is the first Wayanad native to bag the Kerala state award. Yet another interesting fact is that Stephy is the youngest costumer in M-town who has received the award.
“Since childhood, my ambition was to get into the film industry. It was after pursuing graduation in fashion designing from Bengaluru that I shifted to Kochi to start off as a costume designer. For the first one year, I devoted myself to designing dresses for ad-films and through that, I got the call to my first film — Lukka Chuppi,” says Stephy, who started her film journey when she was just 23. Within two years, she completed around 16 films, including Lord Livingstone 7000 Kandi, Guppy and Ezra.
It was for Guppy that she bagged her maiden award. “I got the call to Guppy from its production side. After the initial detailing of characters and screenplay, director John Paul offered me complete freedom to work. Cinematographer Gireesh too helped me a lot while working in Guppy,” says the designer. Does she feel that the costume designers are not getting due importance compared to other technicians?
“Each film has three stages — preproduction, production and post production. Costumers, make-up artists and art directors will be more in demand during the first two phases. But later, our names will not be seen in any promotional events or functions. Even during the celebrations, we will not be mentioned. It is not the case of just costumes; makeup team and art too face the same situation. In that way, we do not get enough attention like other technicians,” says Stephy, who designed the costumes for Angamaly Diaries. Mammootty-starrer The Great Father is her upcoming release.
