Dressed for success
Eimer with Emma Thompson on the set of Brideshead Revisited
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Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh didn't study art at school, but she made learned how to make dresses from a gran-aunt and is now costume designer on some of the biggest movies to hit the screen
DRESSING Colin Farrell and Cillian Murphy before they go to work is many women's dream but for one Limerick lady it's just her day job.
Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh, from Belfield, is a film costume designer and her latest movie, Brideshead Revisited, is out in the Omniplex in Limerick this Friday, January 9.
In the period piece, Eimer designed clothes for Emma Thompson and Michael Gambon, among others, and she has worked with a host of stars including the aforementioned Irish heartthrobs.
Surely even a sober Colin Farrell must be a demanding diva on set?
"No, the really good actors are absolutely not divas. They can't have strops. If they have a strop they hold up camera time and that costs a fortune, then the producers get stroppy.
"The only ones that are divas are those that come in for a day and are bitter because they haven't made it. Colin Farrell, for example, is the nicest person you'll ever meet. He's absolutely gorgeous and is an absolute gentleman. He doesn't drink anymore and just gets on with it," said Eimer.
Even Cillian Murphy who had to dress in women's clothing in Breakfast in Pluto didn't once throw his dummy out of the pram, said Eimer.
"He was going around in a wig, full make-up and wearing some very strange undergarments. He was very patient and good natured," she adds.
Despite being a highly respected costume designer in the movie business with a list of credits as long as a piece of string, Eimer didn't even study art in school.
"I went to St Mary's where you had a choice of studying French or art. Back then if you did art you were thought of as not very smart so I did French instead," she laughs.
However, she soon went from learning the language to studying French designers in the Limerick School of Art and Design. Eimer received her diploma after four years in the college but she had been designing all her life.
"I was a real girlie girlie when I was young. My granaunt was a dress maker so when I visited her she would keep scraps of fabrics for me to play with. I used to love it. I'd take them home and make clothes for my doll."
Like many students after completing her course, Eimer went travelling. Despite studying French, Eimer sowed the seeds of her future career by pitching up in Madrid in the late eighties. .
"People call it a gap-year now and Spain was a lot more exotic than it is now. Me and my friend Breda had this image of Spain as very romantic with the bullfights and the different culture."
She stayed there for three years and it set her on the path to the film set.
"The people I was staying with were studying film and television, and they were always working on projects. One of the guys, Luis Miguel, was making a short film so I just tagged along and helped him out with the clothes."
Eimer had found her niche. After three years abroad it was time to come home but despite the lack of a real film industry in Ireland in the early 90's Eimer was loathe to give up the sewing machine.
"There wasn't a lot of work as a fashion designer and I didn't want to set up a business on my own as I'm hopeless at working on my own. Plus at the time a lot of clothing companies were closing down."
So Eimer headed to Dublin and started working on short films to get into the industry. Her first feature movie was The Secret of Roan Inish by acclaimed director John Sayles.
"It was a pet project of John's. It was a children's movie about sulky the seal," she said. Her next big break was Widow's Peak which was written by Hugh Leonard and starred Mia Farrow.
"I was basically the runner and told, 'go and get the buttons' or 'take up the hem'. The money was OK. I couldn't believe I was getting paid for it. Money was a bonus."
From there Eimer's career continued to climb as high as the slit on a Hollywood celebrity's dress.
She worked on In America, Michael Collins, The Butcher Boy, Breakfast on Pluto and Brideshead Revisited. Eimer says there are three distinct stages to each film.
"First there is 'prep' which is before we start filming, then there is production when we are filming and finally at the end you just finish up, tidy up the paperwork, box everything up and send it back.
"In a period piece like Brideshead Revisited you will start with research, begin sourcing everything and trying to come up with ideas. I talk to the director about what he thinks of this or what colours we should use there.
"For example when I was promoted to assistant on The Butcher Boy, Neil Jordan was really interested in the whole look of the film, the costume and colours to make sure that everything was dark like the film," explains Eimer.
Another aspect of costume design that Eimer really enjoys is the variety. From designing outfits for The Butcher Boy which was set in small town 1950's Ireland to Brideshead Revisited which focuses on the English aristocracy in the 1920s.
There were 2,000 people to clothe in the film from the extras to the leads, and every single one was important, says Eimer.
"Costumes that are only fleetingly shown on screen are as important as ones that appear in a scene for five minutes."
Eimer career's trajectory continues to rise and in 2009 there could be something really special for her to get her needle and thread into.
"I'm down to do this film about 1916 but it's not green lit yet," she says.
But you will definitely see her handiwork in a film called Ondine, written and directed by Neil Jordan and starring Colin Farrell and Stephen Rea.
"It's a fairytale. It's about seals and is set in West Cork. I'm back to the seals where I started!"
Brideshead Revisited is out this Friday, January 9 in the Omniplex Cinema.
http://www.limerickleader.ie/features/Dressed-for-success.4857785.jp 
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