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From math class to the big screen: TFS Alum Rahel Afiley dreams in living color

Watching the “Muppets Most Wanted” movie with his daughter, Dean of Students Jimmy Franklin noticed a distinctive name in the closing credits.

Rahel Afiley is not an everyday moniker; it was clearly familiar to the long-time dean of students.

“I was watching a movie with Sophia and I happened to see her name,” Franklin says. “I Googled her – I knew it had to be “our” Rahel.”

Afiley, a graduate of the Tallulah Falls School Class of 1992, now lives and works in Los Angeles as a freelance costume designer for the television and motion picture industry.

Her career path didn’t take a traditional route, but it was clear to those who knew her in high school she was destined for something creative.

“I didn’t realize quite that field [costume design] existed,” Afiley says. “Essentially design is math. Constructing a costume is math. I’ve always been fascinated by numbers. A lot of my passion was math. I had a wonderful math teacher in Mrs. [Linda] Harris.”

And long-serving math teacher Linda Harris says she could never forget her former student.

“Rahel has an inner enthusiasm for life and such a positive attitude that she could not help but be successful in whatever direction she chooses to go,” Harris says. “This direction for her sounds exciting and I would love to see some examples of what she is doing. Tallulah Falls School has another winning graduate!”

After graduating from TFS, the former international boarding student enrolled at Piedmont College, where she met her husband. Originally, she set out to study business because of her affinity for math. “I quickly realized that’s not really what I wanted to do,” she says.

From Piedmont, she enrolled at the Art Institute of Atlanta. Still, she felt compelled to veer toward the business side of the arts. It wasn’t until an Atlanta fashion photographer introduced her to the world of fashion that she fully realized how to translate her gift for numbers to the field of design.

“It was adult dress up really,” she says. “Telling a story through the costume is what I do.”

From Atlanta, she moved to New York.

“That was always part of my plan,” she says.

More magazine work led to commercials, independent films and ultimately to 22 episodes of the HBO series Flight of the Conchords, where she connected with a group of creators, including high-profile director James Bobin.

Bobin also directed the Muppet movies and Dora and the Lost City of Gold.

“Every project got a little bigger,” she says.

As for designing for celebrities, Afiley says working with Miss Piggy is as thrilling as one might imagine. She dressed the iconic star for two films. In the most recent movie, Miss Piggy had 25-30 costume changes, including custom footwear. To prepare for the production, Afiley shipped a model of the swanky swine’s hoof to a French footwear design house.

“The office erupted in laughter,” Afiley says, of the designers upon opening the special delivery. “She’s such a fashion icon; it was fun to be able to play around with her outfits and it was a delight to work with such a talented actor with no concern for her waistline.”

She also worked on the recent Dora and the Lost City of Gold, a movie inspired by the popular children’s cartoon series, Dora the Explorer. The movie version of Dora is an older character, but the film directors wanted to create something similar to the familiar shorts and top ensemble but appear more age-appropriate. Afiley was up to the challenge to make the transition from cartoon to feature film and from child to pre-teen.