Holly Waddington

Holly Waddington, born in Lancashire, England, is a British costume designer who won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for Poor Things (2023). After moving to London, she trained at Angels Costume House, specializing in ladies’ period costumes, and earned a Fine Art degree from Oxford University’s Ruskin School of Art. Her career spans film, television, and theater, including Lady Macbeth (2016) and The Great (2020–2023). For Poor Things, she designed over 500 costumes, reflecting Bella Baxter’s evolution in a surreal Victorian world, using bold textures and custom-dyed fabrics, earning a BAFTA and nominations from the Costume Designers Guild and Critics’ Choice Awards. Her theater work includes The Taming of the Shrew for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Waddington emphasizes research, sourcing vintage materials to enhance storytelling, blending historical accuracy with creative innovation across genres.