Introduction: Arguing costume design -- Material truths : directors, historicism, and Shakespearean designs -- Frocks and fictions : actresses, personae, and costume design -- Writing the modern body : the queerness of costume stage directions -- Life imitates art : couture, costumes, and commercialism -- Body as art(ifact) or machine : visual artists design for the Ballets Russes -- Postlude: Designing modernism.
Summary:
"Annie Holt identifies the roots of contemporary Euro-American practices of costume design, in which costumes are an integrated part of the dramaturgy rather than a reflection of an individual performer's taste or status. She argues that in the period 1820-1920, as part of the larger project of Modernism across the artistic and cultural field, the functions of "clothing" and "costume" diverged. Onstage apparel took on a more specific semiotic task, acting as a fresh channel for the flow of information between the performer, the literary text, and the spectator. This book traces how five kinds of artists -- directors, performers, writers, couturiers, and painters -- made key contributions to this new model of costume design. Holt shows that by 1920, costume design shifted in status from craft to art"-- Provided by publisher.
Series:
Routledge advances in theatre and performance studies
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.