We never see her on screen yet she is there, in every costume that the actors wear. If she played the lady of fire during episode 2 of Book VI, Anne-Gaëlle Daval is above all costume designer for the series Kaamelott. She is also the one who shares the life of Alexandre Astier, with whom she had five children. Armor, helmets, costumes, it is thanks to her that our favorite characters are so easily identifiable. She tells us about the underside of the series, the respect of historical codes and gives us some little secrets.
Anne-Gaëlle Daval, what does your job involve?
I make the costumes! (laughs). On Kaamelott, I drew them, sewed them and did everything textile. I didn't deal with armor because it's a particular technique that I don't know. I had them done.
What can you tell us about these armors?
There are several types of armor. At the beginning, we have armor that dates from the fourteenth century and is therefore not good. I went to look for them in the Jura from passionate gunsmiths who did that. These armors date from the short film Dies Irae. We had kept them for season 1. They were too dated, so we went for a choice a little more heroic-fantasy with leather armor. I drew these and it was a craftsman from Nîmes who made them for me. For the Roman part, it is armor that comes from Italy. On season 6, we had a bigger economy, so I was able to rent from real movie rental companies that are used to it. That's why they were so realistic.
The armor weighs 18 kg each, it took 20 minutes for the actors to put them on
And what about Alexander's hide-and-collar armor in the early seasons?
It is a gorger. Anything that makes you ridiculous and funny amuses him a lot. I think he must have loved having very restrictive and ridiculous stuff. He agreed right away. After, you should know that the armor weighed 18 kg each and that to put them, it took a good 20 minutes for each actor. It was technically super difficult because you had to get up at 5am to dress all the knights. It was very restrictive for the actors, very hard to wear and it hurt. But if it had been the right time, we would have kept them. Except that it was completely anachronistic compared to the time to which we were referring.
Even the famous ridiculous helmet scene?
For this scene, it is only historical research. All helmets have existed!
What inspired you for these costumes?
Kaamelott has evolved a bit between the first seasons and the last ones. At first, as they were small 3-minute pellets, the interest was to quickly identify each character since there were many. We worked on a color-coded system: each character and each knight had one. The costumes are from the eleventh century but the Arthurian legend is earlier, so we returned in the last seasons to older costumes.
How did you choose this famous color code?
They were chosen in relation to the physique of the actors. Blue for Perceval, white for Lancelot because it is the color of treachery, etc. It's really looking at the pictures of the actors. Some morphologies call for certain colors.
Over the six seasons, there's an entire hangar full of costumes.
How many costumes does the series have?
Over the six seasons, there is an entire shed full of costumes.
How did you come up with the idea of Lord Bohort's nipple covers?
I don't remember it at all! I don't remember why I put that on. It was at the very beginning and I think at the time I was designing the costumes, we didn't identify Bohort as the character he is. I think it's a coincidence…
Did you encounter any particular difficulties during filming?
When I started, I was out of school. I have a diploma of crafts option costume director, it is a diploma of crafts on costumes called the DRA. I made a few feature films but I was very quickly on Kaamelott. It was a huge job and I think I was a bit new to the business. I learned it a little bit from Kaamelott. I did an experiment over a long period of time. I've mostly been able to shake things up over the seasons and that's great.
Any special memories to share with us?
I have memories of a huge job and a mass of incredible costumes. I also have incredible memories of shooting: we shot one night in the Vercors, it's the scene where Arthur has a wolf's head. It was cold, we were fed up and they had set up this little median for the theater in the middle of the mountain. It was absolutely wonderful as a movie atmosphere. There were, like that, little moments of grace when you make movies. We think it's amazing to be there in the middle of the forest with a small theater. I thought it was so beautiful.
How will the costumes evolve for Kaamelott the film? (Trick question)
I don't know. We don't know… (smiles) It's secret, it's his thing to Alexander, his way of making. I respect that. We never talk about work at home.
