Biography
Van Smith (born Walter Avant Smith, Jr.) was an American costume designer and makeup artist. Born in Marianna, Florida, he studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and began working with director John Waters on Pink Flamingos (1972), for which he designed costumes and makeup, including the distinctive look for the performer Divine.
Smith designed costumes and, for the first six films, makeup for every John Waters feature from Pink Flamingos (1972) through A Dirty Shame (2004). His credits include Female Trouble (1974), Desperate Living (1977), Polyester (1981), Hairspray (1988), Cry-Baby (1990), Serial Mom (1994), Pecker (1998) and Cecil B. Demented (2000). He was one of Waters’ regular collaborators, known as the Dreamlanders, and also worked on episodes of the television series Homicide: Life on the Street. Smith died in Marianna, Florida, in 2006.
