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Desira Pesta Costume Designer

Desira Pesta Costume Designer

DESIRA PESTA is a NYC-based costume designer & foremost a storyteller. A cinephile with a Masters in Costume Design from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Desira views costume and production design as anthropology. Starting as a fine artist and painter, her work offers a stylized & painterly cinematic life and her obsession with period accuracy, character-building, & nuanced storytelling breathes life into every detail Desira Pesta is the offspring of hippie bikers & grew up in rural Pennsylvania driving tractors and a backhoe. She fled rural life for New York in 2001 & for ten years she ran her own ethically-produced sustainable fashion line in Brooklyn and outfitted such legends as Courtney Love & Greta Gerwig.. Desira recently wrapped principal photography on Jamie Sisley’s 'STAY AWAKE, a humanizing look at opioid addiction starring Chrissy Metz, Wyatt Oleff, & Fin Argus.

Credits
MemberIdShow TitleJob TitleStudioDirectorsProducersNotesAwards
14572' Sing Sing Costume DesignerA24Greg KwedarColman Domingo, Monique Walton, Clint Bentley 3x 2025 Academy Award Nominations. 3x 78th British Academy Film Awards including Best Actor for Domingo and Best Supporting Actor for Maclin. Golden Globe, Independent Spirit, Gotham Awards, and Screen Actor Guild Award Nominations/Wins.
12653' Stay Awake Costume DesignerMaiden Voyage / Relic PicturesJamie SisleyChris Columbus, Eleanor Columbus, Shrihari Sathe, Eric SchulzA humanizing look at opioid addiction starring Chrissy Metz, Wyatt Oleff, & Fin Argus.Opening Night Film: San Francisco International Film Festival 2022, Berlinale Berlin International Film Festival 2022: Special Mention Award, Sundance Feature Development Lab
11376' Summer Animals Costume Designer Haley Elizabeth AndersonAdrien CothierLiving in a motel room, Tommy does her best to entertain her siblings while her mother tries to secure the family a new home.SXSW 2021 FILM FESTIVAL JURY AWARD
11370' PERFECT AS CATS (Narrative Short) Costume Designer Kevin VuAnders Berg, Raines Plambeck, Katie ChewInseparable sisters Henriette and Anais find their lives and relationship being torn apart under mysterious circumstances. Official Selection in Competition at the 2020 San Sebastian Film Festival, Black Family Prize Winner for Short Film Script, OFFICIAL SELECTION MARYLAND FILM FESTIVAL 2020
12380' Hellmann's Super Bowl Commercial (Featuring Amy Schumer) Assistant Costume DesignerCaviarPeter FarrellyJose Rivera  
11669' Forever Tonight (Short) Costume Designer Swetha RegunanthanNashwa Zaman & Khaula Malik OFFICIAL SELECTION Maryland Film Festival 2021; Winner of the BlueCat Screenplay Contest Finalist for the SHOWTIME Tony Cox Screenplay Contest
11668' Nike 'Carry Me' (Commercial) Assistant Costume DesignerBiscuit FilmworksIsaiah SeretMax KniesStarring WNBA Player Elena Delle Donne and her sister Lizzie. 
11627' Booking.com 'Resolutions' (Commercial) Assistant Costume DesignerSerial PicturesJohn HillcoatTracy Broaddus  
11369' MAGIC HOUR (Narrative Feature) Costume Designer Jacqueline ChristyJose Rivera, Eva Minemar, Jacqueline ChristyStarring Miriam Shor, Josh Stamberg, Sendhil Ramamurthy, & Austin PendeltonNot yet released
11379' Mata Laya Pata (Experimental Short) Costume Designer Kevin VuKevin VuAn underachiever participates in a self-help program. Will she succeed?Official Selection, NoBudge 2019 Official Selection, Sarasota Film Festival 2019 Official Selection, Indie Memphis Film Festival 2018 Official Selection, Eastern Oregon Film Festival 2018 Official Selection, Defy Film Festival 2018 Official Selection, Portland Unknown Film Festival 2018 Official Selection, Marfa Film Festival 2018 Official Selection, VIDEOEX Experimental Film & Video Festival 2018
12247' Winn Dixie 'Winning the Holidays' National Commercial Costume DesignerTongal / Superluminal FilmsBobby WebsterCreighton DeSimone  
12325' Palmer's JAR 101 Commercial Costume DesignerAll of Us FilmsBrad EisensteinBen Nathan  
11821' Winn Dixie Super Bowl Commercial Costume DesignerSuperluminal Film / TongalBobby WebsterCreighton DeSimone & Isaac Lefevre  
11799' Winn Dixie 'Shop Til You Drop' Costume DesignerTongal / Superluminal FilmsBobby WebsterCreighton DeSimone & Isaac LeFevre 2.2 Million Views on Youtube
11670' ADT Security Lifeshield (Commercial) Costume DesignerYork Productions / McCann AdvertisingDamien DrakeJustin Gilley  
11375' Lay's Jalapeno Kettle Chips (Commercial) Costume DesignerDanieli EntertainmentJoseph Chapura   
11371' My Name is Thomas Cain (Narrative Short) Costume Designer Joseph LongoAmanda GiampaoloStarring Barbara Sukowa & Philip Alexander .:. DP: Alejandro Miyashiro, a frequent collaboratorNot yet released
11372' Sisters (Narrative Short) Costume Designer Alec DavisYi Tang / Dan MarinoTwo sisters with a contentious relationship go on a road trip and end up lost and forced to work together. 
11373' Jupiter Disco (Narrative Short) Costume Designer Alfonso Jaramillo-GomezPeter ConradiA man in 2046 time travels back to 1986 to see his favorite band live. 
11374' La Soñadora (Narrative Short) Costume Designer Lin Que AyoungKristian King/Lin Que AyoungAfter her brother's suicide, a young devout Catholic woman seeks out a Santeria priest in hopes of stopping her nightmares from seeping into her waking life. 
11377' Sorry, Mom (Narrative Short) Costume Designer Tim DelaneyShaomin Chew  
11378' Purple Haze (Narrative Short) Costume Designer Gabriel Bier-GislasonAnders BergA suburban mother begins to combat her own deep depression by becoming a real life superhero. 
11368' Red Pearl (Feature) Costume Designer Jessica McGaugh / Stacy BartonJessica McGaugh / Stacy BartonThe main character was a fashion designer, so I designed and constructed over 45 looks for the fashion shows within the film and the character's own handmade wardrobe.COLORADO INDEPENDENT WOMEN OF FILM 2016 LID OFF FILM FESTIVAL 2016
11380' Bridezillas Season 12 (Promo) Costume DesignerWE TVJOE CHAPURAWE TVThis was a stunt-heavy shoot in which I worked with stunt performers. 
12498' Trundle and the Lost Borscht of Atlantis Costume Designer Laura LeeSariel Friedman / Laura Lee   
11381' DFDS Cruiseline (Commercial) Costume Designer RIKKE SCHODTANDERS BERG  
16332' Damned If You Do Costume DesignerObjectively Good MediaEvan Metzold and Jake RubinObjectively Good Media and Shadow Lion  
References
NameTitleEmailNumberDetails
Malgosia TurzanskaCostume Designermalgosia@turzanska.com I have assisted Malgosia on two projects in Fall 2019.
Ciera Wells-JonesCostume Designercieracwells@gmail.com I have assisted Ciera on three projects in the last three years.
Jacqueline ChristyDirectorjackie@accesstheater.com Feature film writer/director of 'Magic Hour', which Desira costume designed.
Haley Elizabeth AndersonDirectorhea236@nyu.edu A film director Desira has worked with twice.
Kevin VuDirectorkevinvufilm@gmail.com A director Desira has costume designed two films with since 2016.
Susan HilfertyCostume Designer & Chair of NYU Design for Stage & Film Graduate Departmenthilferty@susanhilferty.com  
Industry Specializations
Live Performance
Concerts
Dance
Opera
Special Events
Theatre
Themed Entertainment

Recorded Media
Commercials
Motion Pictures
Music Video
Television
Job Specializations
Assistant Designer (CD)
Associate Designer (CD)
Stylist (CD)
Skills
Basic
Aging / Distressing (CD)
Computer Illustration (CD)
Fabric Dyeing (CD)
Fabric Painting (CD)
Hand Illustration (CD)
Modern Dress (CD)
Period Costume (CD)
Shopping (CD)
Sketch Artist (CD)
Languages
Italian
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