Triathlon champion Lesley Paterson swaps leggings and trainers for £20,000 evening gown

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Triathlon champion swaps leggings and trainers for £20,000 evening gown as her film All Quiet On The Western Front bids for nine Oscars

By Katie Hind

Published: | Updated:

As a triathlon champion, Lesley Paterson, until recently, has been more used to wearing leggings and trainers than an evening gown.

But tonight, the screenwriter will celebrate her astonishing nine Oscar nominations, for movie All Quiet on the Western Front, by wearing a £20,000 multi-coloured dress by a Bulgarian designer who heard her being interviewed on Radio 4’s Women’s Hour following her BAFTA nominations earlier this year.

Ms Paterson, who is originally from Stirling but now lives in Los Angeles, California, will wear the flesh-revealing yellow, pink and red frock which has been custom-made for her by fashion label, KolchagovBarba – who also made her show-stealing gown for the BAFTA awards.

The dress even boasts a real 18ct gold clasp which alone cost £1,000.

Work on the gown, which was flown to Los Angeles last week by designers Svetoslav Kolchago and Emilio Barba, took a total of 80 hours to make and was handstitched to fit her body last Friday.

As a triathlon champion, Lesley Paterson, until recently, has been more used to wearing leggings and trainers than an evening gown

But tonight, the screenwriter will celebrate her astonishing nine Oscar nominations, for movie All Quiet on the Western Front, by wearing a £20,000 multi-coloured dress by a Bulgarian designer who heard her being interviewed on Radio 4’s Women’s Hour following her BAFTA nominations earlier this year

But tonight, the screenwriter will celebrate her astonishing nine Oscar nominations, for movie All Quiet on the Western Front, by wearing a £20,000 multi-coloured dress by a Bulgarian designer who heard her being interviewed on Radio 4’s Women’s Hour following her BAFTA nominations earlier this year

Mr Barba told The Mail on Sunday: ‘A friend of mine was listening to Women’s Hour when Lesley was being interviewed. She said that she was very excited about going to the Oscars.

‘They asked who is going to dress you? And she said I don’t have anyone yet… my friend suggested that we get in touch with her as she’s so amazing, and jokingly I was like, okay I’ll give her a call.

‘We arranged a zoom call and showed her what we do and she loved it. We then planned to meet in London the following week and she said “Oh by the way I don’t have a dress for the BAFTA either. We were like the BAFTAs are next week! We told her not to worry and that we’d look after her for the BAFTAS as well.

Ms Paterson, who is originally from Stirling but now lives in Los Angeles, California, will wear the flesh-revealing yellow, pink and red frock which has been custom-made for her by fashion label, KolchagovBarba - who also made her show-stealing gown for the BAFTA awards

Ms Paterson, who is originally from Stirling but now lives in Los Angeles, California, will wear the flesh-revealing yellow, pink and red frock which has been custom-made for her by fashion label, KolchagovBarba – who also made her show-stealing gown for the BAFTA awards

Lesley Patterson in the in the triathlon outfit she’s more used to

Lesley Patterson in the in the triathlon outfit she’s more used to

‘She came to our studios in London, she tried a few options on, from the very beginning you have to get to know what the person is like, that’s why we have fittings with the client, it’s so important to see how they move, what they feel comfortable in. She loved what we tried.’

Mr Barba also revealed that teetotal Ms Paterson – who ten years ago worked as a waitress at the Oscars ceremony in Hollywood – celebrated her BAFTA win last month with a hot chocolate.

He said: ‘Lesley has a bubbly personality, she’s so gorgeous and down to earth. After the BAFTAS we went for a hot chocolate and she brought her BAFTA with her. We were there in Soho with her award drinking hot chocolate.’