Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1987 - 13

CARRIE ROBBINS

ley. This work has eamed her four Drama Desk Awards,
tWO Tony nominations, and a l\laharam Award, and has
placed her among the half-dozen most prominent and
distinctive costume designers working today.
Despite this, Robbins suffers the public anonymity of
almost all costume designers. Finding her name even
mentioned in a review is rare; finding any cogent mention of the costllmes in a review is about as likely as
finding proverbial hen's teeth. The _Vel\' York Times'
reference to "elaborate, matronly co tllmes" in the review of the 19 :; Octette Bridge Club is abou t as detailed as it gets. Robbins may devise ways to put lights
on tap shoes or costllmes that will accommodate remote-controlled blood packs, but she does not design
"glitz" - the flashy SOrt of costumes that attract attention. Of course, she has never really been givei1 the
opportuni ty.
Robbins' costumes are intricately and meticulously
detailed, richly textured, and highly complex creations
that successfully combine period style, psychological
characterization, and her own personal vision. Robbins
admits to a preference for period plays because of the
possibilities the clothes permit land, she says, because
she doesn't want "the entire city telling me what it
should look like" as happens with modem dress - "I run
Out of polite"l. Yet even in something as deceptively
simple as the nuns' habits in Agnes oi God this vision
came through. She rejected real habits, not only because

Deborah Offner as Katherine King in Rebel Women. directed by Jack
Holsiss at the Public Theater. "What I did was hand-paint-handscreen-all the images that I could find. It's calligraphy, which I love."

Amanda Plummer in Agnes of God in Boston. In this scene she starts to
bleed. A remote control blood-pack system was designed by Richard
Huggins lor the effect.

she wanted to avoid identifying a recognizable religious
order, but because she wanted textllres and lines that
would emphasize the physical characteristics and movements of the actresses and their characters in particular
ways. The combination of texture, line, and movement
that Robbins created helped define not only the character, but the tone of the play. The result was probably the
world's first habit made of double-layered silk chiffon.
To the casual audience member the costume appeared
simply as some sort of nun's habit; but on a subliminal
level, a whole emotional response was being shaped.
Robbins describes costume design as dealing with
"little tiny units that all have to add up." She notes that
a set designer has a certain control over the picture that a
costllmer does nor. "A set designer makes a picture, the
curtain goes up, and it looks that way. I do a mess of
things and a director or choreographer comes in and
shifts them around, arranges them, and I never know
where each bit is going to be." So for Robbins it is
important that each of these "units" is, in a sense, a
microcosm. It must contain the whole character - indeed, the whole show - and still fit in any number of
configurations and schemes. "Remen1ber what Mies
van der Rohe said," she notes, "Art is in the details."
Robbins' style and approach is perhaps best understood through her sketches. The e intense, energetic,
active works are not merely suggestive blueprints for
shops and directors. They are, in the words of Douglas
Russell in Contemporar_\' Designers. "masterpieces of
rich complexity in color, line, and texture, with full
attention to all costume detail." Her sketches contain a
vitality that is more than a mere description of a piece of
clothing. The characters often seem to possess energy, as
if caught in movement, or attempting to leap off the
board and onto the stage. Looking at a Robbins sketch
gives a sense of the character in motion which, in turn,
suggests how the costllme will move and hang.
Drawing - constantly and obsessively - is Robbins'
way of exploring the play and the characters. She begins
drawing the "first thing on my mind," and keeps drawing until there is "a sense of connection." This may
TD&T .

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TER 1987

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