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- We’re very happy to have some time today with acclaimed costume designer Camille Benda; greetings and salutations Camille and thanks for taking time from a busy schedule to speak with us here at Vents Magazine! Before we stroll down the proverbial Q&A pathway, how is the tail-end of 2026 treating you and yours?
It’s great! I’m working on a ‘Zine based on my second book, and teaching costume design at California Institute of the Arts, which is always rewarding. It’s been fun seeing YOUTH come out, and I’m off for a two-week Japan and Korea research trip in November!
- Major kudos and accolades on your out-of-this-world costume design on the highly anticipated HBO comedy series Youth! Starting at the top, and for anyone not in the know, can you explain what Youth is about and what attracted you to this new production?
YOUTH is a half-hour HBOMax comedy (with plenty of drama!) starring, produced by and written by Sharon Horgan and her team at Merman. It follows the post-divorce life of Alex, a literary agent, whose son has gone off to university, only to return after a few weeks, upending her entire life, while her ex-husband heads off for a tv series with his new girlfriend. Alex’s dating life, plus the return of her son and a busy career unfold over 8 wild and hilarious episodes. Directors Dawn Shadforth and Jim O’Hanlon bring the urban chaos of London to life as an incredible cast join Alex on her journey.
- As a renowned costume designer, what did you feel you could bring to Youth that no one else could?
Because it was my 4th time working with Sharon and Merman, I was able to jump in quickly to develop the character of Alex. We already had a visual language, and a fit and style shorthand, so we could dive straight into shopping, fitting and making Alex a cool East End London creative. We do a lot of designer secondhand sourcing through independent dealers like SK Vintage, Vintage Curate and Rellik, plus Portobello Market and other markets around London. And then we mix in brands from the high street, do a lot of thrift store shopping, look online at Dpop, Ebay and Vinted. I also love shopping in Los Angeles before I head to London, because the vintage shops in LA have different stuff, so it’s great to get a variety of things for fittings.
- What was your collaboration process like with series creator and lead actress of Youth, Sharon Horgan, not to mention series directors Dawn Shadforth and Jim O’Hanlon?
Sharon’s scripts are always incredible, they bring so many unique characters to life with such heart and humor, so I started there. Sharon embeds so much detail in the scripts, and so much that’s written connects with other key points that deep script reading is essential. The first four episodes were directed by Dawn Shadforth, who made sure that the edgy, cool vibe of East London was always a character. The environment of London, with its concrete, grey skies, red buses and multi-cultural vibe shaped the colors and textures of the costumes. Jim O’Hanlon directed the second 4 episodes, including the action-packed Ibiza episode, and the upcoming finale.
Speaking of collaborations, how closely did you conspire with the incredible cast to create the world of Youth? Were they integral in connecting the dots, style-wise?
We had such a fantastic cast! Everyone brought their A-game to fittings and had super insightful things to share about their characters. One of the best things about this show is that there are wonderful, strong female characters that all have really different styles, and are coming from lots of different generations. It was great to have some Gen Z actors bringing ideas for new brands like streetwear label Corteiz. Libby Mai, who plays Plum, was instrumental in developing her characters look and silhouette through several fittings and looked great in everything, and Aran Murphy had great ideas for his character, Ruari. We even had a costume dyer and breakdown artist work with us to make Ruari’s looks worn in, down to the trashed Adidas Superstars, and jeans with shredded hems. They even dipped Ruari’s socks in beigy-grey dye to make them look like they had been through the laundry a thousand times.
- Did you face any sort of unforeseen challenges in creating a look and establishing a feel for Youth? How easy – or not! – did the looks of the characters come together for you?
One of the juicy challenges of this show was how to make all the male characters different. Sharon wrote such great male leads, from her actor ex-husband Lorcan to Sam’s husband Frank, to her charming roguish love interest Patrick. Finding cool menswear brands, great vintage and making all the men look specific and unique was a complex puzzle! For instance, on Frank, we used East End London based brand Nicholas Daley, but also Supreme and Adidas because it felt real for Frank’s music and bar background.
- Can you introduce readers to the team for Youth that you assembled to achieve the look of London neighborhoods, walking streets, and the like? Was this an entirely new team, or were these people whom you’ve worked with before?
I’m sorry, I’m not sure what the first part of the question is here, since it’s locations that achieves the look of London neighborhoods.
My costume team was a combination of crew I’d worked with before in London, and some great new crew members who stepped into key roles. Our buyers, Becky Gunstone and Angie Egan, worked with me on Bad Sisters are such experienced and talented buyers. Sharon’s own daughter, Sadhbh Rainbird, was a costume assistant on the show, and worked closely with our younger actors to create their looks. It was an all-hands-on deck international effort, with our permanent London team plus a great team in Mallorca for the Ibiza episode and a wonderful German team in Frankfurt for the book fair episode.
- You have three decades of experience that runs the gamut from theater, film, television, and commercials! During that time, what changes have you witnessed in the entertainment industry? And have these changes been for the better or worse?
This is a great question! The digital landscape has really changed how we communicate in costume design, from sketches to paperwork to continuity programs to Zoom. So, the tech and kit we use might have changed, but the elemental parts of our job (storytelling, character, deep research) will always stay the same. Online shopping has certainly made things easier and faster! Suddenly ordering the perfect blazer from France or the perfect denim from Japan is achievable. And tech will never be able to replace the one-on-one creative time we have with actors in fittings, and collaboration with the design team, writers, directors and producers.
- Can you give cinephiles and pop culture aficionados a hint or three as to what you have coming up after Youth?
I am teaching a very full semester of costume design and dress history classes at California Institute of the Arts, and an Australian company is working on getting my first book made into a documentary series, so I’m crossing all my fingers and toes for that!
- When you’re not wowing audiences with your deft eye for character and world building, you’re also an accomplished author, having written Dressing the Resistance and Bending the Rules: Fashion Beyond the Binary! How did these two books come about, and do you have further books in the pipeline we should keep an eye out for?
I wrote the first book, Dressing The Resistance, after I went to a 2016 Trump in downtown LA. I saw how people were using their clothes, fashion and costumes to make a visual statement, and I was inspired to deep dive into how humans throughout time and across the globe have protested and rebelled. Dressing The Resistance was a labor of love, it was written during the pandemic, and I couldn’t visit a single museum or archive, so it became a digital treasure hunt to find research and images.
For my second book, Bending The Rules, I dived into first person interviews with individuals around the world who had incredible stories to tell about how they used clothing and costume to share their own authentic ways of self-expression. My co-author, Gwyn Conaway did some beautiful custom illustrations, and so many people allowed us to use their artwork, photography and archival materials in the book to celebrate all the millions of ways we can express our gender identity through dress.
10.) Final – SILLY! – Question: Favorite movie about the making of movies – Barton Fink, Ed Wood, Hail Caesar, The Player, or Living in Oblivion?
It’s gotta be Hail Caesar!
