Spotlight On: Lee Diemer, Costume Designer

“Any opportunity to add a little character driven detail,” says Lee Diemer while describing her signature costume design style, “The best costumes have little details that reveal the personality or lifestyle of a character. Even better if they’re a little dark or unusual, I definitely enjoy designing edgier films!”

Diemer’s signature style including decaying bridal gowns, animal bone adorned pirate hats and bloody butcher aprons is front and center in Nikki Born’s short film Haunt, which received praise on the 2018 Los Angeles film festival circuit. MXN Entertainment is currently working to develop a TV series based on the short, and Diemer who has worked with director Nikki Born several times since, will be bringing her terrifically twisted designs to the series as well.

Her design work is not limited to the horror genre however, as she frequently works for the American Film Institute, where she has designed a wide variety of costume heavy short films, from a Monty Python-esque medieval comedy, to a dramatic WW2 paratrooper film.

“I have met some of the most wonderful directors and producers through AFI,” Diemer says, while recalling the many experimental and concept driven films she has been a part of with the Institute. “I love that I’ve been able to grow my career right alongside them and it was the perfect transition to begin designing in LA.”

Diemer began her design career in the fashion industry of Toronto Canada, but quickly transitioned to costume design and followed her love of film and history to California where she could work with ‘all the other weird creative types”.

For a young designer it has been a dream to work in the costume department on productions such as the Oscar winning film Ford vs Ferrari starring Christian Bale and Matt Damon. “Learning how a seasoned designer like Daniel Orlandi works his magic was a true privilege.”

While obtaining a degree in Costume Design for Film and Television from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Diemer met her mentor, designer Jacqueline Saint Anne. “She advised me to take any design opportunity that came my way, and to work with the up and coming directors.” It seems this advice was good, as Diemer has become the go to designer for several LA area directors.

Keep an eye out for upcoming films with costumes designed by Diemer, as she plans to keep taking on every new design-driven production that she can, and continuing to bring her character driven, darkly detailed designs to the big screen.