Naomi Watts: The Best Thing About Working on Stylish Films Is ‘I Have It In My Contract I Get to Keep the Clothes!’

Two-time Oscar-nominee Naomi Watts may have the most stylish deal of any actress on any film set — and a closet that reflects that! “I feel really glad that I have in my contract that I get to keep all the clothes,” she said of her many film roles at the Costume Designers Guild Awards on Tuesday in Beverly Hills.

Naomi Watts CDGAsChristopher Polk/Getty


The Birdman actress — who wore an Altuzarra gown and Ana Khouri jewels — was there to accept the Lacoste Spotlight Award, which is presented annually to an actor whose talent and career show excellence and importance of costume design.

So who inspires her style offscreen? “I grew up with my mother who made our clothes, hand sewed them,” Watts said, comparing her ’70s childhood wardrobe to the Von Trapp family in The Sound of Music. “Sometimes a duvet cover would become a dress,” she said.

Inspired at a very young age by her fashion-minded mom, the Australian mom of two said that personal style is one of the first things she notices both on and off-screen.

“I’m one of those people who instantly looks at a person in how they present themselves, and that can be wonderfully impressive and sometimes disappointing,” she said in her speech after accepting the award from her good friend and Wild star, Laura Dern. “I always feel like I’m taking that person and I’m probably too quick to judge them by their clothes, but I do,” she continued.

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And prepping for a new role requires more than just connecting with the director, Watts said. “The very next person I need to connect with is the costume designer,” she said. “I feel I work from the way I move. I hope that my body is very much a part of it.”

Next up, stylewise, for the star? Oh, a little event called the Oscars (she’s presenting). And we can’t wait to see what she wears. (Is it too much to hope for another duvet cover?)

Do you love Naomi’s costumes? Tell us below.

–Jacqueline Andriakos, reporting by Nicole Sands