Fine Arts, UBC Library
Theatrical Costume
"The play demands the hand of the artist in its mounting. But, however and whenever his coming, those of us who love the theatre and dream of it as an art in itself will feel our hopes one step nearer fulfilment as we watch the artist as costumier come into his kingdom."
London: E. Benn Ltd., 1928, p. 143
The display consists of four books about costume - one first published in the sixteenth century, one each from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and one published in this century. These books are displayed with two costumes from the UBC Theatre Department - one is a dress with head-dress, designed by Alison Green for the Department's 1999 production of Peer Gynt; the other is a mask designed by Charlotte Burke for the Department's production of Sticks and Bones.
Vecellio, Cesare, 1530 - 1600. Costumes anciens et modernes; habiti antichi et moderni di tutto il mundo. Paris: 1860. First published 1590 in Venice. Considered to be the most important costume book in the history of costume, it was the first to have detailed descriptions including the textiles used. Vecellio was a cousin to Titian, to whom the exquisitely detailed woodcuts were first attributed.
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Journal des dames et des modes. Paris: 1789-1838. The last of the great French fashion magazines of the eighteenth century. A hand-coloured fashion plate was included every week. By 1798, this was increased to a second hand-coloured plate with every issue, reflecting the rapid development of fashion as an industry. Fashion plates by important artists of the day became a vital element in journalism.
The Repository of arts, literature, commerce, manufactures, fashions and politics. London: 1809-1828. This nineteenth-century journal, often referred to as "Ackerman's Repository" is named after its London publisher, Rudolf Ackerman. The style of Ackerman's Repository broadened the scope of art journals by including fiction and general topics such as fashion. Before the nineteenth century, art journals focused on practical instruction in the arts. Ackerman's Repository is especially valuable for the fabric swatches of the period.
Borchgrave, Isabelle de. Fashion a la mode. New York: St Martin's Press, 2002.
Example of an unusual pop-up interactive book on the history of costume. Text written by the Director of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.
Location: Fine Arts Library
Date: September 2002
Costumes courtesy of the UBC Theatre Department
Fine Arts home page
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