Atwood began her career as a fashion advisor in Washington in the early 1970s. She moved to New York in 1980, where she studied art at
New York University. Her movie career started after a chance encounter with someone whose mother was designing the sets for the film
Ragtime, and she got the job of a PA (production assistant) in the film. An important turning point in her career came when, through production designer
Bo Welch with whom she had worked in
Joe Versus the Volcano, she met director Tim Burton. Atwood and Burton worked together on over seven films in the next two decades, starting with
Edward Scissorhands and including
Sleepy Hollow,
Ed Wood,
Big Fish,
Planet of the Apes, and
Sweeney Todd. She moved to Los Angeles in 1990. Director
Tim Burton brought on Atwood as the costume designer for the
Netflix series
Wednesday to design the looks for
Gomez and
Morticia Addams. The first thing she did was read the script. She started with Nevermore Academy and worked on the costumes for
Wednesday Addams and Enid. Atwood's favorite fashion designers include
Azzedine Alaia, ==Filmography==