Introduction
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS THE OLIVE WONG PROJECT PERFORMANCE COSTUME DESIGN RESEARCH GUIDE INTRODUCTION COSTUME DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE WRITTEN AND EDITED BY AILEEN ABERCROMBIE The New York Public Library for the Perform- newspapers, sketches, lithographs, poster art ing Arts, located in Lincoln Center Plaza, is and photo- graphs. In this introduction, I will nestled between four of the most infuential share with you some of Olive’s selections from performing arts buildings in New York City: the NYPL collection. Avery Fisher Hall, Te Metropolitan Opera, the Vivian Beaumont Teater (home to the Lincoln There are typically two ways to discuss cos- Center Teater), and David H. Koch Teater. tume design: “manner of dress” and “the history Te library matches its illustrious location with of costume design”. “Manner of dress” contextu- one of the largest collections of material per- alizes the way people dress in their time period taining to the performing arts in the world. due to environment, gender, position, economic constraints and attitude. Tis is essentially the The library catalogs the history of the perform- anthropological approach to costume design. ing arts through collections acquired by notable Others study “the history of costume design”, photographers, directors, designers, perform- examining the way costume designers interpret ers, composers, and patrons. Here in NYC the the manner of dress in their time period: where so many artists live and work we have the history of the profession and the profession- an opportunity, through the library, to hear als. Tis discussion also talks about costume sound recording of early flms, to see shows designers’ backstory, their process, their that closed on Broadway years ago, and get to relationships and their work.
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