Making it big indeed
FASHION: Reality TV win just the beginning for B.C. costume designer
Winning the top prize on a reality show isn’t always followed by success in the real world, but Making It Big winner Angelina Kekich is on her way to . . . well, making it big.
Kekich, 29, competed against two other designers to win top honours last year on the Life Network series that offers professionals in different careers a chance to connect with industry experts and work with a mentor. A graduate of Ryerson in Toronto and the University of British Columbia, Kekich is now working as the costume designer on the B.C.-made series Blood Ties, where we caught up with her.
What did you win on
“I’m to be mentored by Angus Strathie, who won an Oscar for his designs in Moulin Rouge.”
What was the worst thing about the reality-TV experience?
“There is no privacy. You are watched and filmed 24/7. When someone on any reality show gets emotional and pleads, ‘Get these cameras off of me,’ I understand.” How did you start in the biz? After getting my master’s degree from UBC in 2002, my big break was with the Arts Club Theatre designing Little Shop of Horrors. As a first gig it was a costume designer’s dream to dress the cast in ’50s clothes. Then I worked with my mentor, Sheila White (who designs CBC TV’s Intelligence), on a movie of the week where she taught me the ropes. Since then I have been on my own designing for movies of the week, features, commercials and now a television series. How did you land “I read the script and fell in love with the story. I am a huge fan of vampire films and knew that this would be a great creative opportunity. So I made some sketches and, happily, sold the executive producers on my ideas.”
What are your favourite films from a costume point of view?
“ The Godfather, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Lost Boys, Lord of the Rings, Last Samurai, The Age of Innocence and Gangs of New York, Dangerous Liaisons.”
What would you like your reality-TV success to lead to?
“I want people in the film industry here to know there are many talented people in Canada and that they should focus on hiring locals for key positions.”
Blood Ties premieres this summer on CityTV and the Space Channel.
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