How Janty Yates Became Ridley Scott's Go-to Costume Designer — and Won an Oscar for 'Gladiator'

In our long-running series "How I'm Making It," we talk to people making a living in the fashion and beauty industries about how they broke in and found success.

Following a rousing masterclass with students at the SCAD Lacoste Film Festival in Provence, France, veteran costume designer Janty Yates sat in a plush student residence dining room, surprised by the viral frenzy surrounding paparazzi photos of Paul Mescal, in leg-baring armor, doing reshoots for "Gladiator II."

"It broke the internet?" she asked.

Yates won an Academy Award for the costumes in 2000's "Gladiator," and reunites with longtime collaborator Ridley Scott for the much-anticipated follow-up, out in November. (If you want more high-res images of Mescal and Pedro Pascal in their Roman looks, you can see them in Vanity Fair.) She earned her second Oscar nomination for 2023's "Napoleon," another Scott project. Running students through the history of their partnership earlier in the day, Yates shared memories of an actor on a medieval film being somewhat difficult during an armor fitting, and of pulling '70s designer pieces from "L.G's" (Lady Gaga's) archives for "House of Gucci."

Yates actually began her career in fashion by studying pattern cutting, dress design and dressmaking in London, before working a year at a wholesale fashion manufacturer. "I was just literally altering a collar here, a cuff there," she said. "I thought, 'Really, this is not for me at all.'"

After stints at Vogue and (and now-defunct) Butterick Patterns, Yates transitioned into junior assistant roles in TV and commercial costume design. "Just always got to say 'yes' to anything," she said. "I was washing bikinis and returning them to shops."

She scored a spot on the costume team for Jean-Jacques Annaud's 1981 prehistoric adventure film "Quest For Fire," where, she said, "I spent six months cutting fur up in Shepperton car park." Long story short, due to a SAG strike, the production fired, then rehired her. "The new costume designers had no idea how [neanderthal fur] went on a body, so they re-employed junior me," said Yates, fondly remembering filming in Scotland and Kenya. "It was the most extraordinary part of my life. It just opened doors."

She landed her first official big-screen costume design gig on 1999's "Plunkett & Macleane," directed by Jake Scott — as in the son of Sir Ridley, who was then beefing up his team for "Gladiator." The elder Scott ended up "nicking," as Yates likes to say, a number of the younger's crew, including herself.

She had never costume designed an expansive period piece with elaborate battle scenes before. "He took a chance," she said. "That was my enormous turning point, and he's asked me back a couple of times." (17 times, to be exact. She's currently waiting for production of his upcoming Bee Gees biopic to resume.)

She spoke of extending the length of Russell Crowe's "Gladiator" subligar (the skirt-like canvas loincloth): "The last sword-and-sandals was Kirk Douglas [in 1960's 'Spartacus'], and their tunics stopped, literally, with what I call a 'pussy hemline.' Basically, we wanted kilts that were very masculine. [The Roman Imperial warriors] probably did wear short skirts. It was so hot. But just for aesthetic value, you could just go around the corner of [accuracy]."

With Scott, Yates has traversed eras from the Roman Empire to the near-and-far future in "Prometheus," "The Martian" and "Alien: Covenant." (She's also designed for other prestigious filmmakers, like Irwin Winkler for "De-Lovely," Michael Mann for "Miami Vice" and Jake Scott, again, for "A Gentleman’s Wager.")

For "Gladiator II," Yates shared the work with her "Napoleon" co-designer David Crossman, who specializes in military costume. "He took care of the gladiators, the Praetorian Guard and all the Roman legionaries," she told the audience during a Q&A (after she tearfully received the Achievement in Costume Design honor at the film festival). "It left me free to fiddle with fabrics. I did the civilians this time around, whereas before I'd done the whole lot."

Ahead, Yates shares how her fashion experience helped kickstart her costume design trajectory, why she thinks Scott gave her that Oscar-winning big break and what armor clue links Mescal in "Gladiator II" to the first movie.

What experience and skills from your fashion background helped you the most to transition into costume design?

Everything, to be honest. I try and counsel new [costume designers] to at least have a knowledge of pattern cutting and working with fabrics, because if you don't know your polyester from your silk, you're buggered — excuse my French. You need that.

Actually, one thing I really missed is the history of art. There's so much wonderful costume in art. Very often, Ridley will refer to an artist, and we'll go out and buy all their books. He's mad for [16th century Flemish painter] Pieter Bruegel, for example, and [17th Century baroque artist] Georges La Tour. I've had my history of art through Sir Ridley Scott, to be honest. I didn't have it before when I was doing films in the '90s, but I just had an instinct. I just knew what was right and what was wrong.

Ridley Scott hired you for your first epic period battle film. What did you say or do in that five-hour meeting that convinced him to give you the opportunity?

To be honest, I don't think I really said that much. Because I was on another film, I got my assistant to do some very basic research at the British Museum. I saw her the night before [the interview at] 10pm — I just came in and she handed me some photos. I think Ridley [based his decision on my work for] the Jake Scott film. He just took the fact that I could do costume and ran with it. I don't think he even gave it a second thought that I had never done armor, never done battles, never done battalions, never done regiments.

How did you connect both 'Gladiator' films, but also make the experience new for yourself? Did you put in Easter eggs threading back to the first one?

I didn't connect them at all. I never understood Easter eggs. I suppose the viewers enjoy them, but I'm too busy. I'd love to have the time to put in little [clues]. In actual fact — it's not an Easter egg — Paul does wear [Russell Crowe's character] Maximus' last breastplate. And Connie [Nielsen]'s in it [returning as] Lucilla and Sir Derek Jacobi [as Senator Gracchus]. But there are some very much hat doffing moments that people will go, 'Oh, yes.'

What's your secret or approach to creating and growing a relationship with a director, especially such a visionary one? You said earlier that you and Ridley both developed a 'short hand.'

That just happens with time. Ridley has a passion for costume, which I love, and he's very, very inspirational. He will fire you up to try and rethink this character. Obviously, I make mistakes. Huge mistakes, but he's forgiving.

In the masterclass, you mentioned that Gucci 'wasn’t so amenable' at first to providing wardrobe on 2021's 'House of Gucci' until then-Executive Vice President Robert Triefus stepped in. Fashion's involvement in film has evolved since then. How do you think this will influence costume design going forward?

[Gucci] was very unhelpful. You know, it's fashion, so we don't mix that much. Most fashion designers are shocked and horrified at the amount of work they would have to do [as costume designers] in a film. They only do it once or twice, then they bow out and say, 'I prefer to do my collections.' It's not how they imagined. They think it's glamorous, and it's not. You've got your sleeves rolled up at four in the morning trying to dye something that was white dark-brown, and it's going beige. You're panicking.

You were so great in the masterclass, and the students loved you. You're a natural. I imagine you must be really great to work for. How would you describe your management style and how you mentor your team?

Well, I'm not very nice, actually. Because I'm so single-minded. I don't suffer fools gladly, and I can be very impatient. And I've lost staff that way, because I've just been, 'Why aren't they here?' I'm very impatient, I have to admit to that.

You emphasized earlier how costume designers and crew are all freelance. What advice you would give early to mid-career costume designers about navigating the industry, especially now with a strong push for pay equity, to make sure that they know their worth and speak up about it?

Actually, I would say, 'Save as much as you can,' because then you can choose your next project with an elegance, in a way. You don't have to jump into the first thing that comes along. You can do it in your own time. So I would just have that financial security — not security, but just enough to live on until a good project comes in.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Disclosure: SCAD provided my travel and accommodations to attend the film festival.

Never miss the latest fashion industry news. Sign up for the Fashionista daily newsletter.