If theres a film thats set to stay in your conscience long after you leave the cinema, that will make you want to book a blow-dry,manicure and slip on a pair of high heels, then its Carol.

The recently released film, tipped for Oscars glory, tells of a moving love story in 1950s New York between middle-class housewife Carol Aird, played by Cate Blanchett, and shop assistant Therese Belivet, portrayed by Rooney Mara.

Blanchett is resplendent as Aird, the glamorous, sophisticated older woman to Maras shy, inexperienced, gamine character.Their characters"clothes are not meant to dominate the film, but nevertheless have a powerful effect on the watcher, and its all down to costume designer Sandy Powell.

The London-born designer has worked on over 40 films since the mid-1980s, and has won three Oscars for costume design for her work on Shakespeare in Love, The Aviator, and The Young Victoria.Her brief was, of course, to be as realistic as possible.The difference between the lead characters was simple;Powell explains:“Cate being an older, sophisticated, elegant, middle-class woman with money, who could afford nice clothes, and Therese being recently a student, artistic, dressed for comfort and practicality really, rather than dressing to impress - to begin with.It was showing the difference between the two: their class and age.”

Powell describeshow Todd Haynes, the director, created a lookbook of images, pulling together photographs and paintings to inspire the look of the film.Said lookbook possessed a very subdued colour palette, “but with odd little highlights of colour like shots of bright red or bright yellow,” says Powell, “and I kind of reflected that in the costumes in a way in that the colours are mostly subdued or muted but with little pinpoints of colour, like in Thereses hat and scarf or in the coral scarf or nails and lips of Carol.”

The film was shot in Cincinnati and Powell trawled vintage shops and vintage fairs in New York and Los Angeles for many pieces.“America is really brilliant for vintage shopping, there is still lots in existence, much more than if Id been here [in England].”She reveals how Rooney Mara is “tiny”, so getting original clothing from the 1950s to fit her wasnt an issue.80 per cent of her wardrobe was sourced from shops or rental companies.Meanwhile, the majority of Cate Blanchetts was custom-made.“Certain things I had to make because I couldnt find or I couldnt get to fit,” explains Powell, who is responsible for the rather fabulous fur coat which Carol Aird sports in the very first scene, when she encountersTherese in the department store.

One cant help but notice Blanchetts perfectly manicured, coral-painted fingernails when she smokes or seductively picks an olive out of her Martini glass.The red scarf she wraps around her head to meet Therese for lunch is equally as beguiling.“The colours I used for Carol werefashionable at the time,” says Powell.“All those reds and subdued duck egg blue and greys, they were all actually very fashionable for the period, so it worked with the feel of the filmand she ended up being fairly fashionable but not extravagantly or showily dressed.”

Powell says that actresses are always hands-on when it comes to curating their characters wardrobes, and the collaboration process is one that she very much enjoys.“It sort of comes together very organically and very naturally.I start when I meet the actresses by trying on lots of different kinds of things, different shapes and different colours and it soon becomes clear what works and what doesnt. They didn"tcome to me saying I want to wear this or I dont want to wear this but equally I didnt want to impose my opinion strictly on them.Its how they wear it that really counts.”

As the story in Carol progresses, the appearance of the characters reflects the stage that they are at in their lives.Blanchetts Carolsubtly rebels from her lifestyle by wearing a cocktail dress to a party with her husband when all the other women sport gowns, and when she and Rooney head off on a road trip her look is “much morecasual” than the conservative dresses we see her sport at home.“Shes completely free,” says Powell.“Shes on her own in a car with a young woman so she lets herself go a little, she relaxes a little”.Cue the knitwear and cropped trousers.“Even her hairs a little messier – shes still put-together obviously but theres still a sort of , a more casual feeling to her, more relaxed feeling to her clothing.”

Those who have watched the film wont have failed to notice that towards the end, the sartorialgap between the two characters lessens.“Thats the point,” explains Powell.“Its a sort of journey of self-discovery, where she [Maras character] really does realise who she is, the kind of person she is and its somebody that she wasnt familiar with at the start of the film, so to speak, so Carol has an enormous influence on her.”Powellimagines that Therese spends her first serious pay packet on a new outfit, and its easy to see when this change occurs.

Unsurprisingly, Powell is “thrilled” with the outcome.“I kind of knew it was a special film when we were working on it, she says, modestly.“To see the actual final outcome is very exciting because whats incredible is that the film actually looks exactly like Todds lookbook.So if you look at the book, its like looking at the film.”

We think Powell had better clear some space in that glass trophy cabinet of hers, just watch this space.

Get the Carol Aird look...

Clockwise from left:Wiggle skirt, £59, Tara Starlet; Cashmerecardigan, £89, Boden; Chanel nail polish in Holiday, £18, Boots;Mayfair bag, £595, Aspinal of London;Frill gloves, £49, Hobbs