World-renowned costume designer Anna Lombardi, who has worked on movies such as 'Gangs of New York', 'The Aviator' and 'Captain Corelli’s Mandolin', will illustrate the unique craft of costume design in a special lecture at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar) in Education City.

The lecture, titled 'Clothes vs Costumes' is being hosted by the university in collaboration with the Italian embassy in Qatar. It will take place at 12.30pm on Tuesday at the Atrium, VCUarts Qatar, and will be free and open to the public.

The event is part of 'Fare Cinema (Making Films) - The Italian Movie Industry', an initiative launched in 2018 by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation to promote abroad 'Made in Italy' cinema with a focus on the film-making crafts - the different professions of the trade that make up the complex mechanism of film production.

“Last year's very first edition of 'Fare Cinema'," said Italian ambassador Pasquale Salzano,"was dedicated to set designers. In the second edition, we decided to put the spotlight on the artistic and creative work of costume designers, a field where Italy can boast of a long-standing tradition."

“Costume designers," continued Salzano, "do not appear in front of cameras. They work behind the scenes to make characters more realistic, shape their personalities and put them in line with the historical epoch of the movie’s plot. We are glad that Anna Lombardi, one of the most talented Italian costume designers, accepted our invitation to come to Doha as testimonial of 'Fare Cinema' in Qatar.

"She will share the experiences of a career driven by passion, creativity and top-level technical competences with the young students of VCU and with anyone interested in knowing more about the Italian quality film production."

At the lecture, Lombardi will take the audience on a behind-the-scenes journey and analyse the costumes that were designed for film sets in the 1950s. The reciprocal influence between fashion and cinema will be highlighted, as well as the close relationships costume designers have with makeup and hair stylists, cinematographers and directors.

Lombardi was nominated for Best Costumes in the Feature Film Category at the Premio di Berenice awards for the film, 'Anita B.' by Roberto Faenza, and in 2018 for Best Costumes at the David di Donatello Awards, (the 'Italian Oscars'), for the film 'Brutti e Cattivi'.

She has been an assistant to Oscar-winning designers such as Sandy Powell, Alexandra Byrne, Colleen Atwood, Gabriella Pescucci and Janty Yates on movies such as 'The Favourite' (director: Yorgos Lanthimos), 'All the Money in the World' (director: Ridley Scott), 'Gangs of New York' (director: Martin Scorsese), 'The Aviator' (director: Martin Scorsese), 'Captain Corelli’s Mandolin' (director: John Madden), 'The Borgias' (director: Neil Jordan) and many others.

In recent years, she has also collaborated as a costume curator to several costume exhibitions, including the Costume Collection for the Cinecittà Studios Film Museum.

Lombardi is the vice-president of ARTSCENICO, the European Federation for Costume and Production Design.