Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2013 - 60

John Boxer and Richard Bruno) were all displayed. The adaptability of this amazing actor, who has such command of his physicality,
in becoming these characters was clearly enhanced by the costumes he wore.
Meryl Streep is widely regarded as one of the most versatile performers working today. On display were her costumes for
Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady (2011, designed by Consolata Boyle), as Donna in Mamma Mia (2008, designed by Ann
Roth), as Karen Blixen in Out of Africa (1985, designed by Milena Canonero), as Sarah in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981,
designed by Tom Rand), and as Aunt Josephine in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004, designed by Colleen
Atwood).
The costumes were completely different from each other and each compelling in its own way. Meryl Streep's admiration for
costumes designers was evident in the interview as was her good rapport with them (especially with Ann Roth during the filming of
Mamma Mia; Streep reported having particular fun with her Donna costumes).

act three
The third act, The Finale, contained more projectors and more surfaces on which to display images than could be counted (or
imagined), and all were in perfect working order (and this reviewer visited the exhibition on three separate occasions). Visitors
were enthralled by the display of some of the most memorable costume designs and characters in the history of movies, many of
which were included in the montage with which the exhibition began. Among them, the little black dress for Audrey Hepburn as
Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961, designed by Givinchy), Nicole Kidman as Satine in Moulin Rouge! (2001, designed
by Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie), The Matrix (1999, designed by Kym Barrett), and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
(2001, designed by Judianna Makovsky). There is a kind of mythology that accompanies these enduring images and keeps them
present in memories of audience members, however long ago. This lingering afterimage is especially prevalent when a costume
designer attempts to design costumes for famous characters in ways other than originally done, for example putting Dorothy in The
Wizard of Oz in pink calico or Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's in a blue paisley cocktail dress.
The costumes on dress forms were topped by monitors forming perfectly proportioned "heads" taken from the movies themselves. The images moved slightly, as if the character was turning just a little, which prevented the display from being stagnant. The
combination of three-dimensional garments on perfectly fitting dress forms with two-dimensional computer screen heads was
remarkable and is sure to be duplicated in many other exhibitions, regardless of subject matter.

Gorgeous gowns! Ginger Rogers
as Liza Elliott in Lady in the Dark
(1944); costume design by Edith
Head. Annette Benning as Virginia
Hill in Bugsy (1991); costume design
by Albert Wolsky. Barbra Streisand
as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl; costume
design by Irene Sharaff. Kate Winslet
as Rose DeWitt Bukater in Titanic
(1997); costume design by Deborah
Lynn Scott. Katherine Hepburn as Tracy
Lord in The Philadelphia Story (1940);
costume design by Adrian. Nicole
Kidman as Satine in Moulin Rouge!
(2001); costume design by Catherine
Martin and Angus Strathie. Audrey
Hepburn as Holly Golightly in Breakfast
at Tiffany's (1961); costume design by
Hubert de Givenchy.

theatre design

& technology

s p r i n g 2013

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