CINÉ LUMIÈRE
17 Queensberry Place
London SW7 2DT
After the success of last year’s screening of The Remains of the Day with acclaimed costume designers Jenny Beavan and John Bright, we are thrilled to welcome them back for an evening dedicated to another iconic Merchant Ivory collaboration, Howards End.
Join Beavan and Bright in conversation with writer and curator Keith Lodwick as they discuss the artistry behind the film, the intricacies of the costumes, and their enduring partnership that has shaped some of Merchant Ivory’s most memorable productions.
HOWARDS END
dir: James Ivory
with Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter, Vanessa Redgrave
UK/Japan/US | 1992 | 142 mins
Based on E. M. Forster’s novel exploring social conventions, morality, and prejudice in turn-of-the-century England, Howards End centers on the intertwined fates of three families: the wealthy, conservative Wilcoxes; the cultured, intellectual Schlegels; and the economically struggling Basts.
Their lives converge in unexpected ways, with Howards End, the Wilcox family’s country house, standing at the heart of their unfolding destinies.
The film won the Palm d’Or at Cannes Film Festival, the Best Film BAFTA Award and countless other awards and nominations, among them those for Best Costume Design.
ABOUT JENNY BEAVAN, OBE
With a career spanning over 30 years, Jenny Beavan is one of the most established costume designers with three Academy Awards and four BAFTAs to her credit, among several other awards and nominations. From period perfection in some of the Merchant Ivory productions (Room with a View or The Bostonians among others) to wild post-apocalypse in Mad Max: Fury Road or the unclassifiable Cruella, Jenny has worked with the most wide variety of genres and periods in film.
Her work in television includes The Cranford Chronicles, Mountbatten – The Last Viceroy, as well as Byron and Emma, RTS TV and EMMY Awards for Best Costume Design, respectively .
Jenny’s costume design work includes theatre collaborations with Robert Altman (Resurrection Blues), Jonathan Taylor (Listen to the Music, Deranged Songs) and Howard Davies (The House of Special Purpose, The Talking Cure, Outskirts, Breath of Life and Private Lives, which won her the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Costume Design).
In recognition for her work on film, television and theatre she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2017.
ABOUT JOHN BRIGHT, OBE
As one of the world’s leading costume designers and costumiers, John Bright has captured the imaginations of audiences around the globe over the past five decades.
The attention to detail in the costumes he has created have brought people, places and moments in time, vividly and authentically to life on both stage and screen.
In 1987 he was awarded an Academy Award and BAFTA for Best Costume Design for A Room with a View.
ABOUT KEITH LODWICK
Keith Lodwick is a writer, curator and theatre and film historian. He is the former Curator of Theatre and Screen Arts at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. At the V&A, Keith was the assistant curator for the major exhibition Hollywood Costume and he curated the touring exhibition Vivien Leigh: Public Faces, Private Lives.
Keith has contributed to a wide range of publications including The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Film and Television Costume Design (2025), George Hoyningen-Huene (2024), DIVA (2023), Studies in Costume and Performance (2021), Shoe Reels: The History and Philosophy of Footwear in Film (2021), Hollywood Costume (2012) and Oliver Messel: In the Theatre of Design (2010). He is currently writing a book about the London costume house Cosprop.
Special thanks to:
