English costume designer Sandy Powell was BOTD in 1960. Born in London, she studied at St Martin’s School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. She started her professional career designing for choreographers Lea Anderson and Lindsay Kemp, and was a protégée of filmmaker Derek Jarman, designing costumes for his films Caravaggio, The Last of England and Edward II. In 1992, she earned her first Oscar nomination for Sally Potter’s Orlando, a gender-switching romp through 400 years of costume history. She quickly became one of Hollywood’s most respected designers, regularly collaborating with directors Neil Jordan, Todd Haynes and Martin Scorsese. Career highlights include dressing Tom Cruise as a gay vampire in Interview with the Vampire, recreating 1970s glam rock culture in Velvet Goldmine and turning Cate Blanchett into a lesbian femme fatale in the Patricia Highsmith adaptation Carol. Oscar-nominated 15 times, she has won for Shakespeare in Love, The Aviator and Young Victoria. In 2023, she became the first costume designer to receive a BAFTA Fellowship, appearing as a flame-haired David Bowie-esque androgyne. During the 2020 awards season, she modelled a white trouser suit, inviting celebrities to autograph it for a charity auction, with proceeds going to restore Jarman’s cottage and garden at Dungeness. Politely silent about her personal life, Powell is married to fashion designer Alfie Mchugh. She earns Honorary SuperGay status for her services to re-imagining LGBTQ sensibility onscreen and her eccentric, queer-coded personal aesthetic.