Gallery Spotlight: Costume Design with Natalie O’Brien

Join us in conversation with costume designer Natalie O'Brien as we discuss the importance of horror storytelling through costume design.

The Education and Public Engagement team invites visitors to explore Stories of Cinema, the Academy Museum’s ongoing core exhibition that presents diverse, international, and complex stories of moviemakers and the works they create.   

When you think of horror films, what comes to mind? Is it chilling music, suspenseful storytelling, or the iconic costumes?

Join us in conversation with costume designer Natalie O'Brien as we discuss the importance of horror storytelling through costume design. The conversation will discuss her inspirations and revisit O’Brien’s The Girl from A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) currently on view in the Identity gallery that features costume, make-up, and hairstyling.

About Natalie O’Brien
Based in Los Angeles, Natalie O'Brien is a costume designer who is passionate about crafting unique characters and narrating their tales across studio, independent, and commercial platforms.

Natalie has meticulously designed a diverse array of costumes: from creating 14th-century nun habits for an Italian convent in Jeff Baena's The Little Hours (2017) to adorning Chloë Sevigny and Kristen Stewart in 19th-century fashion for Craig Macneill's Lizzie (2018), to immersing audiences in a 1970s New Hollywood–inspired universe in Julia Hart's lauded I’m Your Woman (2020), featuring Rachel Brosnahan.

O’Brien found inspiration in her Iranian heritage for her breakthrough film, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) directed by Ana Lily Amirpour. This black- and- white Farsi vampire film not only garnered multiple Independent Spirit and Gotham Award nominations, but also sparked the creation of striking Halloween costumes for years. One of the iconic original costumes from the film has found a cherished place at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

O’Brien has frequently collaborated with Amirpour, including the films The Bad Batch—whose premiere secured a special prize at the 2015 Venice International Film Festival—and Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon, which debuted at the same festival in 2021. O’Brien's works include involvement in designing Disney’s Stargirl franchise; Alma Har’el's Honey Boy, which earned a Special Jury Prize at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival;, and Matt Spicer’s Ingrid Goes West, which won Best First Feature at the 2018 Independent Spirit Awards. Her latest projects include two thrillers: the new release No One Will Save You, starring Kaitlyn Dever; and "Five Nights at Freddy's, produced by Blumhouse and scheduled for a release in late October.

The conversation will take place in the Netflix Lounge on Level 2. We encourage visitors to explore the Identity gallery located on Level 2, before or after the conversation.

 If you have any questions, or need assistance planning your visit, please email museumeducation@oscars.org. 

Free with general museum admission, the Gallery Spotlight Series is a monthly conversation with featured guests.

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