This is the story of how a shy and rebellious girl became a creative force in costume design, collaborating with Madonna, Lenny Kravitz, Tom Ford, Prada, and Quentin Tarantino.

Dressing a celebrity is helping to shape their public identity; dressing a character is creating a universe from scratch. In both tasks shines the New Yorker Arianne Phillips, costume designer and stylist. Madonna, Courtney Love, Gia Coppola, Jeremy Scott, Alessandro Michele, or Tom Ford, among others, parade across the screen and praise her expressive, impactful, and chic ability. We’ve all seen Phillips’ work, whether we’re aware of it or not: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The People vs Larry Flynt, A Single Man, Walk the Line, or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood bear her signature. This behind-the-scenes film sums up a career without a hint of frivolity: “Our job goes beyond making someone look cool; it’s about feeling protected.”