Grace Snell

Birthplace

Norwich, Norfolk, England, UK

Biography

Grace Snell is a British costume designer born in Norwich and raised with a strong connection to craftsmanship—her grandmother worked as a machinist in the 1960s and ’70s, making sheepskin coats. After studying a foundation diploma at Camberwell College of Art, she went on to earn a BA in Theatre Design with a focus on Costume Interpretation from Wimbledon College of Art in 2012. She began her career working in theatre, music videos, commercials, and short films, quickly gaining recognition for her creativity and ability to deliver on tight budgets. Among her early accolades was a UK MVA nomination for Best Styling in 2017 for her work on a music promo with Police Dog Hogan, and a British Craft Arrow nomination in 2019 for her advertising roster. Her breakout mainstream work came with Joanna Hogg’s film The Souvenir (2019), for which Snell was nominated for Best Costume Design at the British Independent Film Awards 2019. This first collaboration with Hogg led to her being invited to design The Souvenir Part II, released in 2021. Snell’s designs for the sequel earned her the Best Costume Design award at the 2021 British Independent Film Awards, having been shortlisted the previous year. She also worked on the Billie Piper–directed film Rare Beasts, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2019, and on Mogul Mowgli, directed by Bassam Tariq, which premiered at the Berlinale in 2020 and won the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize. On television, Snell designed costumes for the Sky Atlantic series I Hate Suzie, co-created by Billie Piper and Lucy Prebble. That show received a BAFTA nomination, and British Vogue singled out her costume work as “full of standout pieces.” At the same time, the Evening Standard included it in its “Best Costumes in TV 2020” list. She costume designed The Gold (BBC), a two-series six-part drama series set in the 1980s. The first series earned a BAFTA Craft Award nomination for Drama Series in 2024; Snell returned to design the costumes for the second series, which wrapped in spring 2024 and is expected to be released in 2025. In the past few years, she designed The Outrun, a feature film adaptation directed by Nora Fingscheidt that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2024, and Pillion, a queer romance directed by Harry Lighton starring Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling, which debuted in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in 2025. Snell has also contributed to numerous high-profile advertising campaigns for brands such as Guinness, PlayStation, Ford, Adidas, Amazon, and Sainsbury’s, earning a nomination for Best Costume at the British Arrows Craft Awards in 2019. Beyond her design credits, Grace Snell has served as a head judge on industry juries, including for the British Arrows and the international Shots Awards in the Casting/Production & Styling category. She also mentors emerging talent in the costume and styling departments and was recognised by Screen Daily as an International Star of Tomorrow in 2021.