Elizabeth Haffenden (18 April 1906 – 29 May 1976) was a British costume designer. She was best known for creating the costumes for most of the Gainsborough melodramas in the 1940s and for her longstanding collaboration with Joan Bridge on many notable film productions in latter years. Her accolades include two Academy Awards and a BAFTA Award.

Life and career Elizabeth Haffenden was born in Croydon to wholesale draper James Wilson-Haffenden and Edith Carruthers. Elizabeth Haffenden trained at Croydon School of Art and the Royal College of Art. After working as a commercial artist she entered theatre costume design working with Laurence Irving.

Haffenden's first film costume designs were for Colonel Blood (1933, working alongside art directors Laurence Irving and John Bryan. In 1939 she joined Gaumont British film studios, and from 1942–1949 she was in charge of the costume department for the popular cycle of Gainsborough melodramas, produced at Shepherds Bush. These included The Man in Grey (1943) and The Wicked Lady (1945). Costume historian Pam Cook has described Haffenden's Gainsborough projects as "visually splendid ... and the company promoted several of the films on the basis of their costumes". Haffenden's designs for Caravan (1944) and The Wicked Lady (1945) anticipated the post-war new look fashion style, and offered "extravagant sexual display" through low cut bodices and translucent fabrics. Costumes from The Wicked Lady were acquired for the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

In the 1950s Haffenden worked as resident costume designer for the British branch of MGM-British studios, Elstree.

From the late 1950s Haffenden worked as a freelance costume designer with Joan Bridge, who had worked as a Technicolor consultant at Gainsborough in 1946, where the pair met. Haffenden and Bridge worked together on period dramas, comedies and thrillers, starting with Ben Hur (1959), which won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design.

Haffenden and Bridge were frequent collaborators with director Fred Zinnemann. They worked on five films for Zinnemann, across a range of periods and locations that required thoughtful costuming, including The Sundowners (1960), set in 1920s Australia, the Spanish-set Behold a Pale Horse (1964), Tudor drama A Man for All Seasons (1966) and the recent history of Day of the Jackal (1973).

Haffenden and Bridge were jointly nominated for British Academy of Film and Television Awards (BAFTA) for The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965) and Half a Sixpence (1967), and were awarded a BAFTA and Oscar for A Man for All Seasons (1966).

In subsequent decades Haffenden and Bridge designed costumes for notable films including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1968) and Fiddler on the Roof (1971).

Haffenden died in London on 29 May 1976, while she was prepping costumes for the film Julia.

Filmography

Year Title Director Notes 1936 The Last Waltz Leo Mittler 1942 The Young Mr. Pitt Carol Reed 1943 The Man in Grey Leslie Arliss Dear Octopus Harold French 1944 Fanny by Gaslight Anthony Asquith Give Us the Moon Val Guest Two Thousand Women Frank Launder Love Story Leslie Arliss 1945 Madonna of the Seven Moons Arthur Crabtree A Place of One's Own Bernard Knowles I'll Be Your Sweetheart Val Guest The Wicked Lady Leslie Arliss 1946 Caravan Arthur Crabtree Bedelia Lance Comfort The Magic Bow Bernard Knowles 1947 The Man Within Jassy Uncle Silas Charles Frank 1948 Call of the Blood John ClementsLadislao Vajda The First Gentleman Alberto Cavalcanti 1949 The Bad Lord Byron David MacDonald Christopher Columbus The Spider and the Fly Robert Hamer Haffenden only designed costumes for Nadia Gray 1950 So Long at the Fair Terence FisherAntony Darnborough Portrait of Clare Lance Comfort 1951 The Late Edwina Black Maurice Elvey 1953 Laughing Anne Herbert Wilcox 1954 Beau Brummell Curtis Bernhardt 1955 The Dark Avenger Henry Levin Footsteps in the Fog Arthur Lubin Haffenden only designed costumes for Stewart Granger 1956 Bhowani Junction George Cukor Moby Dick John Huston 1957 Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison 1958 Davy Michael Relph Carve Her Name with Pride Lewis Gilbert Haffenden only designed costumes for Virginia McKenna I Accuse! José Ferrer 1959 Ben-Hur William Wyler 1960 The Sundowners Fred Zinnemann 1962 I Thank a Fool Robert Stevens 1964 Behold a Pale Horse Fred Zinnemann with Joan Bridge 1965 The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders Terence Young The Liquidator Jack Cardiff 1966 A Man for All Seasons Fred Zinnemann 1967 Half a Sixpence George Sidney 1968 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Ken Hughes 1969 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Ronald Neame 1971 Fiddler on the Roof Norman Jewison 1972 Pope Joan Michael Anderson 1973 The Day of the Jackal Fred Zinnemann The Homecoming Peter Hall 1974 Luther Guy Green 1975 Conduct Unbecoming Michael Anderson

Awards and nominations AwardYearCategoryWorkResult Academy Awards 1960 Best Costume Design – Color Ben-Hur 1967 A Man for All Seasons British Academy Film Awards 1966 Best British Costume Design – Colour The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders 1968 A Man for All Seasons Half a Sixpence

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