‘Master of illusion’ had Kiwi childhood
Michael Howells Production designer b January 1, 1957 d July 19, 2018
Michael Howells, who has died aged 61, was a production designer who ranged across fashion, film, ballet, theatre and television; Stephen Fry compared his work in ‘‘range, scope, vivacity and imagination’’ to that of Cecil Beaton, but observed that ‘‘Michael is so much less of a bitch’’.
Howells was a master of illusion and connoisseur of elegance, with a razor-sharp wit and absolute attention to detail. He worked on more than 20 films, from Fry’s Bright Young Things (2003) and Emma Thompson’s Nanny McPhee (2005) to Douglas McGrath’s Emma (1996), starring Gwyneth Paltrow, and Sally Potter’s Orlando (1992) with Tilda Swinton.
Most recently he created the sets for the ITV series Victoria (2016), for which he built a wing of Buckingham Palace in an aircraft hangar near Leeds, filling it with sumptuous-looking carpets and wall hangings, chandeliers, antiques, pictures and flowers.
‘‘We had all the carpets printed, based on the real carpets at the palace,’’ he recalled. ‘‘We had all the chandeliers made in the Czech Republic, all the furniture made in Malaysia. We used 3500 square feet of gold leaf while filming and burned 12,000 candles.’’
In the fashion world he was instrumental, with designers such as John Galliano at Christian Dior, in redefining the fashion show as theatrical extravaganza.
He revelled in colour and luxury, often to the point of excess. When he was working in Spain a colleague asked him how good he was at Spanish. ‘‘Mas lentequelles, por favor’ [more sequins, please] is all I need,’’ came the reply.
Michael Howells was born in Hampshire. When he was six months old the family moved to Malawi, and when he was six they moved to New Zealand; his earliest memories were of sailing back and forth from New Zealand, watching films projected on to white sheets on the deck.
His career as a set designer was inspired at an early age by an item on British children’s TV show Blue Peter. ‘‘I remember it vividly,’’ he recalled, ‘‘I saw [production designer] Eileen Diss on the programme, showing her designs for The Count of Monte Cristo, and she explained how it went from idea to model to thing. It was then I realised ‘I want to do that’.’’
His interest was encouraged by his parents. When he was about 10, his father bought him a large dolls’ house and he proceeded to design and decorate the interior, trying out many styles.
His first major design job was as assistant art director on Peter Greenaway’s lusciously filmed 1989 crime drama The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. His spectaculars for Galliano included mise-en-scenes with paper butterflies exploding over the Palais Garnier in Paris, cabarets, film sets and boudoirs. ‘‘We’ve always tried to make it feel like: You don’t just go see a show,’’ he said, ‘‘you actually enter into this world, this sort of 20 minutes or hour, whatever, that time you’re there that you’re enveloped by the perfume, you’re enveloped by the music, and the touch, and the sound, and the taste. The whole idea is that you yourself actually become part of the performance.’’
A striking and elegant 6ft 7in, Howells enhanced the impressive overall effect with a penchant for three-piece Savile Row suits and long, pointed shoes. He was a good dancer, with a natural grace, who would often show the models at catwalk shows how it should be done.
His other commissions ranged from Kate Moss’ 2004 Beautiful and the Damned 30th birthday party, to Gwen Stefani music videos and museum exhibitions, including an award-winning design for ‘‘Hats, an Anthology’’ (2009). – Telegraph Group