A BRIEF HISTORY OF COSTUME DESIGN

We act as our own costume designer in our everyday lives.  We pick out what we are going to wear in the morning, whether it be carefully dressing to impress the cute girl in your class, or dressing in sweatpants and a t-shirt for a movement class, etc.  We dress certain ways in certain situations--church, job interview, party, the list goes on.  Our clothing says things about us--our position and status, gender, occupation, level of flamboyance or modesty, degree of conformity or independence, if we are dressed for work or leisure, etc.  Costumes on stage convey the same thing, but with some added objectives.

The first theatrical costumes were basically ceremonial robes.  In ancient Greece, the himation was a gownlike costume similar to the robes worn by the priests who chanted the choral odes.  Costumes in medieval drama were nearly identical to the robes worn by the priests who originated the liturgical texts.  The costumes in Japanese Noh drama are based in the spiritual rather than secular world.

It was a gradual change whereby we started to see costumes used to define a character.  In Elizabethan England, costumes were regal and ceremonial but were rarely used to establish character.  In Shakespeare’s time, it was common to see some actors wearing contemporary clothing alongside some who dressed for the period in which the play was set.  In the commedia dell’arte pieces of Renaissance Italy, costumes for recurring characters helped classify gender, occupation, age, education, etc.

Costuming more similar to what we know today came about in the 18th and 19th centuries when other more realistic elements began to dominate the Western theatre.