Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1984 - 42

BOOK REVIEWS
The Costume Designer's Handbook, a Complete Guide for the
A mateur and Professional Costume
Designers by Rosemary Ingham and Liz
Covey. Englewood Cliffs: PreIllice Hall
Inc., 1983. ISB
0-13-181271-8 (paper),
0-13-181289-0, 264 pp., illus., pis. 512.95
(paper).

The Costume Designer's Handbook is a
delightful companion to Rosemary Ingham
and Liz Covey's first book, The Costumer's
Handbook. They have developed a comprehensive study of the costume design profession into a stimulating and enjoyable book.
The authors write about a profession in
which they have been involved in various
aspects for many years. Because of their involvemeIll, they understand this demanding
profession and offer artistic suggestions as
well as practical ideas on surviving the
business.
The book is divided into two sections:
an eight -chapter discussion on designing,
and a forty-page reference section.
The playscript, the beginning of any design veIllure, is discussed in some depth with
emphasis on analyzing for the "imagination and the intellect." The first design
conference is reviewed with candor and a
great deal of common sense. The importance of preparation is illustrated with examples of costume plots, action charts, and
an outline of questions for the director.
Research is defined as "a careful search,
a close searching." Numerous lists are given
of where and how ro find the information
needed for a project: general histories, primary source materials, or reliable COSlUme
history books. The book even explains how
ro use a library. All this information will
allow for a more careful search for solutions.
An in-depth discussion of preliminary
sketching, the color layout, and the final
sketch takes place over two chapters. The
reader is encouraged through the development of the sketch, and educated about
color far beyond the traditional discussion
of the Ives color wheel. Media, art supplies,
and materials are suggested, explained and
illustrated with some lovely professional
renderings in black and white.
The pre-production and production periods of the design process are analyzed and
discussed. The authors give some sound advice for survival: "Be nexible, don't wait
until one phase is finished before starting
another, and insist on humor in the face of
anything."
-to

After a thorough analysis of the artistic
aspects of the profession, Ingham and
Covey shift their atteIllion to the business
side. The book outlines where the jobs are,
what the jobs are, and how to find them.
The authors preseIll methods of writing letters of introduction, give valuable advice
on COIllracts, and offer suggestions on how
to keep records for tax purposes.
The second part of the book is a wealth
of reference materials that encompass research, booksellers, COSlUme organizations,
and a shopping guide for five di fferent
cities. One of the very helpful references is
a list of selected painters from the midthirteenth through twentieth centuries, with
a brief description of the painters' work and
commeIllS on their value ro the costume
designer.
This book is easily read andundersrood,
and comprehensively deals with the costume
design profession. There are ample black
and white phoros of sketches, materials and
production shots. There are only nine color
plates, which was probably an economic decision. The Costume Designer's Handbook
should be on every costume designer's bookshel f as an inspirational resource, organizational guide, and a reference.
0
Mary Ellen Rose
Trinity University

British Theatre Design 1979-1983
by Society of British Theatre Designers.
Faringdon, Oxfordshire: Twynam Publishing Ltd., 1983. 64pp., ill., paper.
In preparation for the 1983 Prague
Quadrennial, the Society of British Theatre
Designers mounted an exhibition of work
by over eighty of its members. It was from
this exhibition that the eventual British entry was selected. This catalog shows the
work of forty-five of these designers in
handsome black and white and color phorographs of productions, models, and designs.
There is also a complete list of the exhibition.
Many of the designs and designers will
be familiar to TD& T readers from Jarka
Burian's articles on British scenography
(Spring and Fall, 1983) and those who
would like an analysis of the work should
read those articles. What strikes the viewer
of this catalog is the sheer quantity of British design, and the wide variety of styles.
The examples range from a traditional box
set by Saul Radomsky for The Deep Blue
Sea to an Appia-like background by Joe
Vanek for Terra Nova, to an hallucinarory
gas chamber-like setting for Stravinsky's

Theatre Design & Teehnology/USITT/Spring 198-t

Editor: L. Garrel

Oedipus Rex by Stefanos Lazardis. Then
are also, of course, the textured, sculptural
architecronic, fragmentary, suggestive, ral'
wood, fantastic ... the whole range of post
World War II styles and techniques.
Gil'en the inability of the United State:
to organize entries ro the PQ, the introduc
tory essay by Peter Mair of the Arts Coun
cil, chronicling Britain's similar problem:
and solutions, provides a valuable lesson
Because of a lack of any sort of organiza
tional body, Britain, tOO, did not enter thi
early Quadrennials. But unlike the U.S.
where the PQ is virtually unknown and 0
lillie interest to professional designers, thl
British designers felt left out. Under thi
leadership of John Bury they organized ane
raised money themselves for the first Britisl
entry in 1975. Their entry won the Gole
Medal for set design and, perhaps more im
portantly, led to the establishment of thi
Society of British Theatre Designers. Thel
have continued ro take top honors at subse
quent Quadrennials.
The United States, of course, has othe!
problems including its size and diversit)
which results in several artistic centers, '
greater distance from Prague which result~
in greater expenses, and a simple lack of in
terest in international contests of this natun
on the pan of most American designers
But the British experience seems to indicate
that until the designers are ready to organize
themselves it will be very difficult to have ar
American entry.
c::
Arnold Aronson
ew York

Stage Costume Techniques by JO)
Spanabel Emery. Englewood Cliffs
PreIllice-Hall, Inc., 1981. ISB
0-13
840330-9,362 pp., ill., $22.95 cloth.

Until this decade, books offering exten
sive instruction to the theatrical costumet
did not exist. There were books about theatrical costume design which gave incideIlla
allention to the construction of costumes,
but they dod not satisfy the growing need
for a book devoted ro costume technology,
With professional costume shops economically successful and regional cost ume shops
burgeoning, it is not a coincidence that the
1980s have already produced two very good
books on this subject. The Costumer's
Handbook by Rosemary Ingham and Elizabeth Covey, published in 1980, was the first
response to the cry for help from theatrical
costumers.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1984