Mayes C. Rubeo

Marc Forster's World War Z (2013), for which thousands of people (living and un-dead) were costumed, instead demanded contemporary realism, though still on a global and epic scale. Mayes continues to bring her costumes into new territories, turning technological and technical challenges into creative opportunities. Her characteristic passion and collaborative spirit have enabled her to successfully lead diverse teams across five continents, merging traditional craft skills with state-of-the-art technology.

* Mayes' work has featured in international exhibitions, including the Deborah Nadoolman Landis curated exhibition Hollywood Costume (2012) at the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) in London.

Since then she has been known for creating the visual identities of the "Na'vi" people in James Cameron's Avatar (2009), Edgar Rice Burroughs's 100-year-old vision of civilized Mars in Andrew Stanton's John Carter (2012), and for transforming some of the world's most popular video game and comic book worlds into reality on-screen for Duncan Jones' Warcraft (2016) and Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok (2017).

Mayes C. Rubeo is a costume Designer known for her work on Apocalypto (2006), Avatar (2009), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Warcraft: The Beginning (2016), World War Z (2013) and John Carter (2012). She was born in Mexico City and went on to train in Fashion and Costume at the Los Angeles Trade-Tech College (LATTC) and UCLA. In a design career spanning two decades, she has collaborated with visionary directors such as Mel Gibson and Zhang Yimou, leading studios such as Legendary and Marvel and screen stars including Cate Blanchett, Ruth Negga, Brad Pitt and Andy Lau. Her early collaborations laid the foundations for a career that has demanded enormous versatility: Mayes began work as an Assistant Costume Designer and Costume Supervisor, gaining experience with Designers Shay Cunliffe, Erica Edell Phillips, Ellen Mirojnick and Enrico Sabbatini, the latter becoming her career mentor.

It was Mayes' collaboration with Mel Gibson on Apocalypto (2006), which delivered a powerful image of the lost Mayan civilization, that set her on the path of creating costumes for the epic and otherworldly.

For Hallmark's movie saga Fidel (2002), Mayes met the challenge of costuming characters from many walks of life and times, to tell a history spanning seven decades.

After assisting Shay Cunliffe on Lone Star (1996), Mayes continued to work with the same independent Director-Producer team John Sayles and Maggie Renzi, designing costumes for three of their films: Angeli Armati/Men with Guns (1997), Sunshine State (2002), and Casa de los Babys (2003). Though budgets were lean, costumes and characters had to feel convincing. These cherished collaborations strengthened Mayes resourcefulness.