Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2016 Historical accuracy in costume design: experiences and perceptions of Broadway costume designers Sara Jablon Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the American Material Culture Commons, Fashion Design Commons, and the Theatre and Performance Studies Commons Recommended Citation Jablon, Sara, "Historical accuracy in costume design: experiences and perceptions of Broadway costume designers" (2016). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 14972. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/14972 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Historical accuracy in costume design: Experiences and perceptions of Broadway costume designers by Sara Jablon A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Apparel, Merchandising, and Design Program of Study Committee: Eulanda A. Sanders, Major Professor Fatma Baytar Mary Lynn Damhorst Brad Dell John W. Monroe Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2016 Copyright © Sara Jablon, 2016. All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................... vii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ viii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1 Background ................................................................................................................................. 1 Purpose ........................................................................................................................................ 4 Significance ................................................................................................................................. 4 Research Questions ..................................................................................................................... 5 Objectives ................................................................................................................................... 5 Scope ........................................................................................................................................... 6 The Role of the Researcher ......................................................................................................... 6 Limitations .................................................................................................................................. 7 Definitions of Terms ................................................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................... 10 Stage Costumes ......................................................................................................................... 10 Definition of Costume........................................................................................................... 10 Taxonomies of Costumes ...................................................................................................... 13 History of Theatrical Costume Design ................................................................................. 16 Historical Accuracy in Costume Design ............................................................................... 18 Arguments Against Historical Accuracy .............................................................................. 22 Contemporary Approaches to Historical Costume Design ................................................... 29 Theoretical Perspectives of the Communicative Properties of Appearance ............................. 34 Semiotics ............................................................................................................................... 37 Symbolic Interactionism ....................................................................................................... 42 Dramaturgy ........................................................................................................................... 46 Impression Formation ........................................................................................................... 49 Grounded Theory ...................................................................................................................... 53 Gaps in the Literature ................................................................................................................ 56 CHAPTER THREE: METHODS ............................................................................................. 63 Research Design ........................................................................................................................ 63 Participants ................................................................................................................................ 64 Data Collection ......................................................................................................................... 65 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 68 Trustworthiness ......................................................................................................................... 72 iii CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS .................................................................................................. 76 Profile of Participants ............................................................................................................... 76 Definition of Historical Accuracy ............................................................................................. 78 Dress ..................................................................................................................................... 80 The Body ............................................................................................................................... 82 Importance of Historical Accuracy ........................................................................................... 86 The Importance of History .................................................................................................... 86 The Primacy of the Narrative ................................................................................................ 87 Conditionality of Accuracy ................................................................................................... 88 The beneficiality of accuracy ............................................................................................ 89 The responsibility of accuracy .......................................................................................... 90 The impossibility of accuracy ........................................................................................... 92 Approach to Historically Set Productions ................................................................................. 94 Production Factors Influencing Historical Accuracy ............................................................ 94 Applicability ..................................................................................................................... 95 Production aesthetics .................................................................................................... 95 The theatrical framework .......................................................................................... 95 The text ..................................................................................................................... 99 The production concept ........................................................................................... 100 The scenic design .................................................................................................... 101 Cultural aesthetics ....................................................................................................... 103 Attainability. ................................................................................................................... 107 Resources .................................................................................................................... 108 The historically accurate body .................................................................................... 110 Performability ................................................................................................................. 112 Strategies for Incorporating Historical Accuracy ............................................................... 114 Incubation ......................................................................................................................