20th Century Period

Resource 1: National Portrait Gallery, London

This free museum has a plethora of portraits that would be ideal for anyone looking for inspiration in set, prop, makeup, or costume design. Some paintings are over 16 feet tall, and the detail captured is unbelievable.

Added bonus: Online archives which store photos of portraits along with descriptions of sitter and painter. http://www.npg.org.uk

Things to note on dress in the 1900s:

•  Dress in general became even more relaxed/casual and informal
• Dress was considerably less ornamental. Focus was put on simple color schemes and lines
• Women wore trousers as well as dresses
• Portraits portrayed people in the here and now in their natural element

National Portrait Gallery Archives, http://www.npg.org.uk. Floor 1, room 32. Accessed from web 07-09-13.  Subject: Diana, Princess of Wales.   

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Resource 2: Kensington Palace, London

A small percentage of the palace is available to the public.  Areas on display include The King's State Apartments (~1714 through 1760), The Queen's State Apartments (~1603 through 1694), Victoria Revealed (1819 through 1901), and Fashion Rules (1950 through 1980s).  Displays include fashion, architecture, furniture, weaponry, and reenactments of the time.

The official website http://www.hrp.org.uk/KensingtonPalace/  includes information on conservation, fact sheets, and background information on the palace.  The palace also sponsors programme events, such as lectures, for a nominal attendance fee.

A General Note on Dress
Fashion changes were fast and furious during the 20th century. Each decade spurred major developments in fashion.
Embellishments, embellishments (embroidery and/or beading)! 

Fashion in the 1950s

• Waists were nipped in, feminine hourglass silhouette
• Formals: Silk organza

Photo taken at Kensington Palace, Fashion Rules. 07-13-13. Embellishment. 1950s.

Photo taken at Kensington Palace, Fashion Rules. 07-13-13. Embellishment. 1950s.

Photo taken at Kensington Palace, Fashion Rules. 07-13-13. Fifties Femininity. 1959.

Photo taken at Kensington Palace, Fashion Rules. 07-13-13. Hourglass shape. 1950s.

Fashion in the 1960s 

• Short skirts
• Bright colors

Fashion in the 1970s

• Long skirts
• Diaphanous (light, translucent) fabrics
• Bright colors
• Formals: A line dresses

Photo taken at Kensington Palace, Fashion Rules. 07-13-13. Her Majesty the Queen/ Outdoor Dressing. 1972.

Photo taken at Kensington Palace, Fashion Rules. 07-13-13. Her Majesty the Queen/ Diaphanous Fabrics. 1977.

Fashion in the 1980s
Shoulder pads
Sparkles
Formals: Silk dresses, multiple layers of tulle

Photo taken at Kensington Palace, Fashion Rules. 07-13-13. Princess Diana/ Sparkle and Drama. 1986.

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Resource 3: British Library, London

Spread out over six floors, the British Library is host to a plethora of books and historical items.   There are reading rooms spread throughout with resources available from Humanities to Science.  There is also an online collections catalog at http://www.bl.uk/# that is organized in several ways: By time period, by region, by subject, and more.

The free permanent exhibit has a wide range of historical items ranging from the Magna Carta to Beatles lyrics.  Other items include some of the first music, books, maps, and even sketches by Leonardo.

Great resource for props production and for shows with old chants or short songs within the script. Unfortunately, photos are not allowed.


Focus on Pop Culture:

• The Beatles were popular music group
• Magazine featuring the Beatles from 1964 shows fashion 
• Records were musical device of the time
• Actual recordings can be heard at the library

Photo taken from classicrock.com, 07-15-13. Old Record Player Featuring the Beatles. 1960s.

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Resource 4: Fashion Museum, Bath

Known as the Museum of Costume until 2007, this museum houses a large collection of dresses, shoes, hats, gloves, and such from the late 16th century until the present day.  Over 30,000 objects have been cataloged and are available to be searched in the Collection Search on the official Fashion Museum's website, http://www.museumofcostume.co.uk.  

Many pieces in the museum's collection has information on material used, techniques, creation date, and creation place. The only problem with this online database is that it is for past collections and permanent collections.  Any current temporary collection on display has not yet been cataloged.

Photo taken at The Fashion Museum, Bath. 07-18-13. Embroidered Evening Dress. 1903.

Photo taken at The Fashion Museum, Bath. 07-18-13. Orange Mini Dress/Andre Courreges design. mid-1960s.

Photo taken at The Fashion Museum, Bath. 07-18-13. Orange Dress/Handley Seymour design. 1933.

Photo taken at The Fashion Museum, Bath. 07-18-13. Fringe Dress/Callot Soeurs design. 1920s.

Photo taken at The Fashion Museum, Bath. 07-18-13. Pink dress with embroidery/Unknown designer. 1930s.

Photo taken at The Fashion Museum, Bath. 07-18-13. White Two Piece/Gerald McCann design. early1960s.

Photo taken at The Fashion Museum, Bath. 07-18-13. Flowing Frock/ Unknown designer. Early 1930s.

Photo taken at The Fashion Museum, Bath. 07-18-13. Psychedelic Print/ Troubadour design. 1970s.

Photo taken at The Fashion Museum, Bath. 07-18-13. Power Suit. 1980s.

Photo taken at The Fashion Museum, Bath. 07-18-13. Teenage Daywear. 1950s.

Photo taken at The Fashion Museum, Bath. 07-18-13. Brown Synthetic Lace Dress. Early 1930s.

Photo taken at The Fashion Museum, Bath. 07-18-13. Gold Brocade and Lame Dress. mid-1920s.

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Resource 5: Tate Modern, London

This museum of modern art has several floors of galleries. Additional exhibits are available for a nominal fee. Works on display by famous artists include Monet, VanGoh, Picasso, and Pollack.  The official website http://www.tate.org.uk/ has the entire collection cataloged by artist, category (sculpture, painting, etc), style or ism (Cubism, Expressionism, etc), or subject.

Photo taken at The Tate Modern, London. 07-24-13. Bust of a Woman, Pablo Picasso. 1944.

Photo taken at The Tate Modern, London. 07-24-13. Lightning with Stag in its Glare, Joseph Beuys. 1958-85.

Photo taken at The Tate Modern, London. 07-24-13. Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, Pablo Picasso. 1932.

Photo taken at The Tate Modern, London. 07-24-13. Figure (Woman), Magda Cordell. 1956-7.

Photo taken at The Tate Modern, London. 07-24-13. Water-Lilies, Claude Monet. 1916.

Photo taken at The Tate Modern, London. 07-24-13. Transformed Visions, Gerhard Richter. 2006.

Photo taken at The Tate Modern, London. 07-24-13. Shooting Picture, Niki de Saint Phalle. 1961.

Photo taken at The Tate Modern, London. 07-24-13. Morning, Dod Procter. 1926.

Photo taken at The Tate Modern, London. 07-24-13. Portrait of a Young Woman, Meredith Frampton. 1935.

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Resource 5: The British Museum; London, England

Over two million artifacts from the collection are archived online at http://www.britishmuseum.org/.  Aside from the extensive collection within the museum, the Museum also offers a range of courses and events for teachers exploring the permanent collection and the special exhibitions.  There is also a plethora of activities and resources for students online, categorized by culture, by subject, and by age group.  This particular museum is so vast and varied that spending a day there wouldn't be enough. The collection ranges from Egyptian to Roman to Greek artifacts and more, with great information about culture, lifestyle, religious life, and more.

This is a wonderful resource for props, set design, actors (as far as viewpoint/background information on the life of characters, and even costuming.

Photo taken at The British Museum, London. 08-02-13. Mantel Clock. 1930.

Photo taken at The British Museum, London. 08-02-13. Cash Register. 1900.

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Resource 6: Book Period Style for the Theatre, by Douglas A. Russell

This book is the most useful, well-laid out book that covers a span of time from the ancient world all the way up to the modern world. Sections within each time period include costuming and accessories, acting and movement, directing information, information on the theatre itself, world/history events that were going on at the time, art and sculpture, how to design for that time, and specific plays of the time.

General information on the 1900s:

• Symbolist Style:Artistic Style based on mood, feeling, and abstract form
• Asymmetrical/industrialization
• Art Nouveau: Natural, folkart, arts, crafts, simplicity
• Early modern: Swirly, Romantic, loose fabrics

Architecture:

• Rectilinear furnishings
• Cast & wrought iron, reinforced concrete and glass

Costuming & Accessories:

• Men's straw boater hat and fedoras
• Women: Disappearance of the bustle
• Slimmer silhouette, bust becomes higher;
• 1920s: Knees! Men's clothing and lapel becomes a little wider, double breasted coats, horizontal feel, looser clothing
• 1930s: Soft, sleek, sexy look, longer skirts, single breasted suits, broad shouldered men and bikinis
• 1940s: Another war leads to restriction in fabric.  Heels, gloves, knee length skirts, recycling of garments because fabric is used for the war effort, parachute wedding dresses (recycled parachutes), hemlines got shorter and shorter since they couldn't afford to buy entirely new outfits, women drew pencil lines in place of their stockings, which also went to the war effort
• 1950s: Relatively conservative, narrow lapel, skinny ties, higher necklines
• 1960s: Lots of extremes in fashion--either tight pants or big bellbottoms, mini skirts or maxi skirts, Women wear pants, mini/micro skirts and bright colors. Blue jeans become popular/common in wardrobe
• 1970s: Conservative look (think Little House on the Prairie), remix of 30s (just higher), large collars, wide pants, wide ties, and patterns!
• 1980s: Bright colors, reflection of the 1940s look with big boxy shoulder pads, movement towards comfort and casualty
• 1990s: Grunge, sloppy and oversized (basically remove the padding from the shoulder pads and the fabric just slumps)

Manners & Movement:

• In the 1920s men still knew how to enter a room, greet a lady and how to dress 
• Women were no longer regarded as frail beings with gentility 
• Women played tennis and ball, swam and skied and grew in size and strength 
• Ideal female figure become thinner to match the active and feminine form
• Female pose was long, languid, relaxed
• Women began to compete with men for jobs so they began to share in the fatigues and problems of daily work and travel