Costume designer Barbara Darragh is the creator of Xena’s iconic outfit, Billy T James’ look as the Tainuia Kid in Came a Hot Friday, and has won awards for her work on the feature films The End of the Golden Weather and River Queen.

Darragh’s television credits include Under the Mountain, Greenstone, Hercules and Xena, and, most recently, Spartacus.

In this ScreenTalk, Darragh talks about:

• Helping create special effects on the classic TV series Under the Mountain
• Using an assortment of odds and ends to create Billy T James’ Tainuia Kid costume for Came a Hot Friday
• Scouring old photo albums to create a vintage feel for The End of the Golden Weather
• How winning a TV award for the film’s costumes recognised the costume designing craft
• Having fun creating costumes for the ‘sandals and swords’ fantasy show Hercules
• Never intending to create a lesbian icon when designing the signature costume for Xena
• Using an incredible amount of blue dye for the soldiers’ uniforms on River Queen
• Managing tension on set over different views on how the film should look
• How beauty, pain, dirt and nudity make designing for Spartacus a ‘dream’

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.

NZ On Screen: Interview, Camera & Editing – Andrew Whiteside