Among the Theatre and Performance collections there are over 3,500 stage costumes and accessories - ranging from complete outfits to individual headdresses. All are a tribute to the creativity and skills of designers and costume makers from the mid 18th century to today, in every kind of live performance - drama, opera, dance, musicals, pantomime, rock and pop, music hall, cabaret, circus.
Designing Stage Costumes
A much-repeated cliché is that theatre costumes are badly made, tawdry, unfinished and don’t bear close inspection. Yet only in close-up can the inventiveness and resourcef…
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Making Stage Costumes
Theatre costume makers translate two-dimensional designs into fabric, decoration and trimmings to take the design from the page to the stage.
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Reflecting Historical Periods in Stage Costume
This section explores the challenges for designers to create costumes for theatrical productions set in historical periods and looks at various approaches.
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Materials and Colour in Costume Design
Theatrical costumes do not have to use expensive materials to create the illusion of grandeur. In the 18th century materials were stiffened with paper, and tinsel became de…
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Decoration in Stage Costume
Decoration on a costume can range from the extravagantly expensive, like Chaliapin's costume for the Coronation scene of Boris Godunov, to ingenious ways of suggesting opul…
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Cut and Structure in Stage Costume
Designs are an evocation of a costume and not a detailed pattern of cut and seaming, so working out the structure is the job for an expert. Some costumiers make patterns an…
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Dance Costume Design
Dance costume is a highly specialised field and as well as having to reflect the overall concept of the work, body movement, the demands of the choreography of a particular…
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Wilhelm
Born William Charles Pitcher in England, 1858, Wilhelm was one of the most prolific stage designers of his day. He worked on nearly 200 productions including pantomimes, mu…
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Biography of Léon Bakst
Overview of the life and work of revolutionary stage designer and artist, Leon Bakst. Born in Russia in 1866, Bakst belonged to that young generation of European artists wh…
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Biography of Oliver Messel
The career of Oliver Messel (1904-1978), the successful mid 20th-century stage and film designer describing his style, approaches and working methods.
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The Actor and the Maker: Ellen Terry and Alice Comyns-Carr
The greatest English actress of the late 19th and early 20th century, Ellen Terry, excercised a great deal of control over what she wore on stage. She was leading lady to t…
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Interview with Lez Brotherston, Costume Designer
Lez Brotherston is one of the UK’s most dynamic and innovative designers, working extensively in dance, theatre, opera, musicals and film. Best-known for his work with Matt…
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Audio: Costume from The Rite of Spring
Christopher Cook and Sarah Woodcock talk about a costume designed by Nicholas Roerich for the 1913 ballet 'The Rite of Spring'.
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A gift in your will
You may not have thought of including a gift to a museum in your will, but the V&A is a charity and legacies form an important source of funding for our work. It is not just the great collectors and the wealthy who leave legacies to the V&A. Legacies of all sizes, large and small, make a real difference to what we can do and your support can help ensure that future generations enjoy the V&A as much as you have.
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Hollywood Sketchbook: A Century of Costume Illustration (Hardback)
Hollywood Sketchbook is the first volume published on costume design illustration for the movies. This groundbreaking book celebrates one hundred year…
Buy nowEvent - Cosprop Costume Company
Wed 10 July 2013 14:00
Founded in 1965 by Oscar-winning designer John Bright, Cosprop is now one of the world’s leading costume houses.
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