Before we toured the new exhibit “Glamour: Costumes and Images from the Collection of Mary Strauss” at the Sheldon Art Galleries, Strauss called out “Wait, wait, stop” and then asked the gallery director to “Go get the boas; we can’t go in without boas.”
And so we waited until the boas arrived, blue for me and red for Strauss.
“Ahhh, that’s better. Isn’t it?” Strauss cooed, and I’d have to admit that it was even though it’s a little trick to juggle a boa, notebook and pen.
“The world is too casual. We need more glamour. Don’t you think?” Strauss asked. “That’s what I want people to get out of the exhibit. Escape the world and immerse yourself in nothing but glamour and beauty.”
Strauss has been collecting garments for five decades, and as a lifelong theater and costume design lover, she could teach a course on the subject.
She considers it a travesty that costume design wasn’t on the ballot for the Academy Awards until 1948, the ceremony’s 21st year.
“When actors are on screen, even before they speak, you are looking at what they are wearing. And even when they are having dialogue, you are paying attention to what the costumes are saying,” Strauss said. “Costumes tell you who they are, where they live, what kind of person they are.”
And costume designers have an especially tricky task because they must develop profiles for characters and consider things no one else would. Characters can’t just look good in the clothes; they have to look good on the set, the colors have to translate on film, the garments have to be historically accurate or there has to be a good reason why they aren’t.
But costume designers are afforded one bit of latitude that makes it all worthwhile. When they portray glamour, it can be impractical and extravagant. Sure, the barmaid can afford a $10,000 gown for her cabaret singing debut. Of course, the shopgirl can afford a four-figure dress for the ball.
“Fashion as art has always interested me. Costume design on this level is really about wearables that are sculptural,” said Olivia Lahs-Gonzales, director and curator of the Sheldon Art Galleries. “And it really allows you to suspend disbelief to see how these costumes actually do the acting.”
Fashion icon Diana Vreeland once said, “Everything was an exaggeration of history, fiction and the whole wide extraordinary world.”
On film and on stage, “costumes have been used as a tool to convey a mood, reveal the essence of a character and illuminate a personality,” according to a statement on the exhibit.
In “Glamour,” the visitor will encounter original costumes worn by Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette in 1938; Whitney Houston in her 1997 Pacific Rim concert and Elizabeth Taylor in “Cleopatra,” 1963; “A Little Night Music,” 1977; and “Poker Alice,” 1987.
Also featured are two Bob Mackie runway gowns from the designer’s personal collection and costumes designed and worn by Susan Hayward, Joan Collins and Katherine Hepburn.
A dress designed by the masterful Edith Head, who has 35 Academy Award nominations and eight wins to her credit, is on special loan to the exhibit from Paramount Pictures. The dress by Head was worn by Lizabeth Scott for her vampy role as a torch singer in “I Walk Alone” in 1948.
The multimedia exhibit also includes various video screens playing film clips of the costumes on screen and an array of costume sketches and old Hollywood photos, including a wall of “glamour boys” such as Tyrone Power.
“For a little while it’s nice to immerse yourself in a bygone era of glamour and perfection and fantasy,” Strauss said. “You know, forget your troubles.”
Strauss looked around at the exhibit that she curated from her extensive collection and said that she hoped people would be inspired to take a little glamour with them and perhaps find a place for it in their everyday lives.
After all, reality would be a lot more palatable with a little more razzle dazzle, wouldn’t it?
We took a last look before we unfurled our boas and exited.
Sorry, the exhibit is BYOB.
Glamour: Costumes and Images from the Collection of Mary Strauss
Where • Sheldon Art Galleries
Admission • Free
When • Open noon to 8 p.m. Tuesdays, noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and one hour before Sheldon performances and during intermission through Dec. 28.
RELATED EVENTS
• ArtSounds evening “Divas and Designers,” 6 p.m. Oct. 25. An evening of jazzy music by Coco Soul and Erin Bode; a fashion show featuring the latest in gala fashion by Neiman Marcus and Distinctions; signature cocktails and hors d’oeuvres catered by Orlando’s. Tickets start at $100, 314-533-9900.
• Gallery Talk, 11 a.m. Nov. 9 with Mary Strauss. She will discuss her costume collection, the history of costume design in the movies and its influence on fashion at the Sheldon Art Galleries. Free.
• Fashion Reels: A sidebar at the St. Louis International Film Festival, Nov. 14-24. Craft Alliance’s Fashion Lab presents a series of movies, documentaries and lectures with a focus on fashion. Information at craftalliance.org/events/fashionlab.htm.
• “A Conversation with Edith Head,” Susan Claasen’s one-woman theatrical production, 8 p.m. Dec. 6-7 in Sheldon Ballroom. $40, MetroTix at 314-534-1111 or at TheSheldon.org.
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