Jacqueline West drapes a new vision for world-building in a classroom where students stitch sandstorms from silk.

The Academy Award nominee is the latest David C. Copley Costume Designer in Residence at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. The program immerses graduate students in a rare opportunity for early career mentorship with established costume designers. Previous costume designers in residence include Sandy Powell (“Shakespeare in Love”), Judianna Makovsky (“Harry Potter”) and Kym Barrett (“The Matrix”). This May, West said, her class draws from her recent work on Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” and “Dune: Part Two,” and highlights her design process and understanding of character. She added that the course invites students to create their own designs as they reimagine the fictional world of world of Arrakis.

“They’ve really come up with their own designs and really interpreted them in a way I didn’t,” West said. “They came up with things I had never thought of that were absolutely brilliant.”

The costume designer said she emphasizes the value of a distinct point of view conveyed through an individual’s creations. West said Villeneuve asked her to work on “Dune” because her designs are rooted in realism, a quality he wanted to bring to Arrakis. West said she advises students to share their visions with the directors they work with, while supporting their own ideas with research and reason.

She added that she hopes to demystify the film business for her students. The industry can be daunting, she added. West said she hopes her time working with her students this quarter will raise their confidence while reassuring them that they too can design for a movie.

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Caprice Shirley, a graduate student in fine arts studying costume design, said authenticity underscores West’s designs – garments grounded in research that transport viewers to distinct worlds. Shirley, a science fiction enthusiast, added that West’s openness, warmth and eagerness to work with her and her classmates defined their interactions.

“You always want to be learning,” Shirley said. “I’m just hoping to hang on to all the words of the people who know more than me.”

She said the opportunity to form connections, along with getting the chance to understand exactly how the field operates, is highly beneficial. Shirley added that working on a project similar to “Dune,” is one of her professional aspirations.

Costume design blends the worlds of storytelling and fashion, said Laila Simone, a graduate student in fine arts studying costume design. Simone added that she was immediately impressed upon learning of West’s UCLA residency.

Everyone in the course came in with varying levels of familiarity when it came to designers and film, she said. But, for her, Simone added, the recognition was immediate: West was the costume designer behind “Dune.” Realizing that West would be their designer in residence made the course experience exciting from the start, she said.

“This is our opportunity to have face-to-face time with people who we may be working with once we graduate,” Simone said. “They get to see our energy with each other, how we receive feedback and how we develop over the course of five or however many classes we do, and they get to see our personalities.”

One of the most valuable pieces of advice West has shared was a call to reconnect with the analog process – to step away from relying entirely on technology and recall the value of organic discovery, Simone said. She added that, while sources of inspiration can feel instant and endless online, West’s teachings remind her that there’s something completely different about physically visiting a library and letting oneself wander.

“I think anything that develops your imagination is what’s going to make you a better designer,” West said. “Reading does that. … Just being open-minded, going to museums, looking at art, exposure, sitting at a cafe just watching people.”

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West said costume design functions as a bridge from actor to character. She added that Brad Pitt once called her a method costume designer – dressing characters from the inside out. When she was asked to work on Philip Kaufman’s period drama “Quills,” West said she initially protested to her husband that she was a modern fashion designer – a “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” a shorthand for those with a fashionably contemporary style. He responded that since she designs for people, she should get to know the character and imagine taking them shopping in that period, she said.

West said that as a student at UC Berkeley, she worked in a clothing store, where the owner, known for her exceptional sense of style, recognized potential in her that she had yet to fully see in herself. West added that though she was simply working on the sales floor at the time, her mentor’s belief in her led to travel internationally for the business as she explored cities such as London and Paris. West said recognition itself can be as valuable as the opportunities that follow.

“(Mentors) give you that confidence that you can do this also,” West said. “Letting a young person know that and really massaging that creative side of them is the most important thing a mentor can do.”