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

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

But tonight, the screenwriter will celebrate her amazing nine Oscar nominations for the film All Quiet on the Western Front by wearing a £20,000 multicolored dress designed by a Bulgarian designer who overheard her after her former BAFTA nominee was interviewed on Radio 4’s Women’s Hour this year.

Ms Paterson, who is originally from Stirling but now resides in Los Angeles, California, will wear the yellow, pink and red skinny dress shown, which was made especially for her by fashion label KolchagovBarba – which also caused a stir in her dress for the BAFTA Awards.

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

The dress, flown to Los Angeles last week by designers Svetoslav Kolchago and Emilio Barba, took a total of 80 hours to work on and was hand-sewn last Friday to fit her body.

As a triathlon champion, Lesley Paterson was, until recently, more used to wearing leggings and trainers than an evening dress

But tonight, the screenwriter will celebrate her amazing nine Oscar nominations for the film All Quiet on the Western Front by wearing a £20,000 multicolored dress designed by a Bulgarian designer who overheard her after her former BAFTA nominee was interviewed on Radio 4’s Women’s Hour 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 she was very excited to go to the Oscars.

“You asked who will dress you? And she said I haven’t met anyone yet… my friend suggested we get in touch with her because she’s so amazing and jokingly I thought ok I’ll call her.

“We arranged a Zoom call and showed her what we do and she loved it. We were supposed to meet up in London next week and she said, ‘Oh by the way, I don’t have a BAFTA dress either. We were like the BAFTAs next week! We told her not to worry and we would take care of her for BAFTAS too.

Ms Paterson, who is originally from Stirling but now resides in Los Angeles, California, will wear the yellow, pink and red skinny dress shown, which was made especially for her by fashion label KolchagovBarba – which also caused a stir in her dress for the BAFTA Awards

Lesley Patterson in the usual triathlon outfit

“She came into our studios in London, she tried a few options, from the start you have 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’re in feel comfortable. She loved what we tried.”

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

He said: “Lesley has a bubbly personality, she’s so beautiful and down to earth. After the BAFTAS we went for a hot chocolate and she brought her BAFTA. We went to Soho with her award and drank hot chocolate.”