Dressing the Stars
‘DRESSING THE STARS’….. British
Costume Design at the Academy Awards
March 11
Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Fashion
Museum is pleased to announce that it’s summer exhibition will
include costumes designed by Jenny Beavan for the King’s Speech
which won Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards.
The ‘Dressing the Stars’ exhibition, which
opens on 12 July and runs until the end of August, will bring
together the cream of British Costume Design from the last 50
years.
On display will be around forty costumes worn
by stars including Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter in The
King’s Speech and those worn by Keira Knightley in
The Duchess, much of which was shot at the Assembly Rooms
in Bath. Other costumes on display will include those worn by Kate
Winslet and Emma Thompson in Sense and Sensibility,
Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Caribbean, Cate Blanchett
in Elizabeth, Gwyneth Paltrow in
Shakespeare in Love, and Meryl Streep in The French
Lieutenant’s Woman.
The first Brit to win a costume Oscar was
Roger Furse for Hamlet in 1948. Since then there have been
many nominated (including Jenny Beavan for her work on the King’s
Speech) and winning British costume designers at the American and
British Film Academy Awards.
Yvonne Hellin-Hobbs, curator of the
exhibition, said:
“This is a great opportunity to showcase some
spectacular and iconic costumes from some great films. It is also a
chance to bring the public’s attention the design process and the
designers behind them; another group of Brits on the red
carpet.
“Not only will the costumes themselves be on
display but there will also be interviews with the designers about
the process involved in creating an award winning costume. From the
first reading of the script to consultation with actors and
directors, the creative process of interpretation is often arduous
and fraught, but immensely rewarding.
“A programme of events is planned surrounding
the exhibition including screenings of the films at local cinemas
and lectures and talks by some of the designers and makers
responsible for bringing the costumes to the screen. The creation
of a costume for a particular actor is a complex process and one
that will be of interest to many people.”
Yvonne Hellin-Hobbs has worked with the
Council’s Heritage Services on one previous exhibition, the
glamourous and immensely popular Supremes exhibition in
the summer of 2009. She is ideally placed to curate
this exhibition because, before graduating with a degree in Museum
Studies, she had a career in the film industry, working in the
costume department of British films such as Sense and
Sensability starting Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet.
Dressing the Stars is the Assembly Rooms
summer exhibition and opens in the Ball Room on 12 July 2011,
entrance included in a Fashion Museum ticket. It continues
until 29 August 2011, http://www.fashionmuseum.co.uk/
01225 477789
It is mounted by Bath & North East
Somerset Council Heritage Services.