Costume In Performance Research Articles

Social constructs of the coastal fante festival performance costumes and sculptural objects in Ghana: An indigenous knowledge system and practice

The focus of this qualitative case study was to explore the intricate relationship between Coastal Fante Festival performance costumes, sculptural objects, and the indigenous knowledge system and practices of the coastal dwellers, who reside in the central coastal regions of Ghana. To explore the social constructs of Coastal Fante Festival performance costumes and sculptural objects comprehensively, this study employed a multidisciplinary approach, combining ethnography, archival research, and artisan collaboration in the geographical context of Winneba and Cape Coast. The unstructured interview and direct observation were the instrumentations used for the data collection. The interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) and visual data analysis tools garnered from sixteen (16) research participants using purposive (expert) and simple random sampling techniques allowed for a holistic understanding of the cultural, historical, and societal dimensions of these costumes and sculptural objects within the Central region coastal community, shedding light on their role as living embodiments of indigenous knowledge and cultural practice. The study revealed that these costumes hold profound cultural significance, symbolizing historical events, social identities, behaviour, codes and spiritual connections within the community. As a result of these social constructs, enculturation and inculturation were achieved, materialising cultural identity, defining mood (attitude), enhancing performer welfare, and addressing issues of history were addressed through performance costumes and sculptural objects. The generation should see these costumes with sculptural objects as a living embodiment of indigenous knowledge and cultural practice, enriching the understanding of Fante culture and its significance in a global context.

Connections, collections and costume construction: Performative reanimation through observation and making

Drawing on a material culture approach, this research report explores how a making methodology based on a theatrical costume construction practice can be applied to historical costume re-creation, particularly where the researcher must rely on the interpretation of other available primary sources such as costume drawings, sketches, tailors’ notes and archival records. The report builds on previous research investigating the value of reconstructing historical performance costume where the original costume itself has not survived. It identifies appropriate terminology to describe the practice, as well as the specific contribution the theatrical costume maker can make to this type of research. The report argues for consideration of the phenomenological value of a remaking approach to researching historical performance costume, and how this might sit alongside more established observational, archival-based research methods. It also further questions whether a re-created costume can contain the same power and agency as an extant costume stored in a museum archive, in terms of its direct physical connection with the original performance, designer, maker and wearer. Reflection on all of these points is needed for the development of practice-led research within the field of costume construction for performance.

Research on the Artistic Forms and Connotations of Folk Witchcraft Culture in terms of Visual Representation: A Case Study of "Nan Huan Nü Xi" in Yixing

"Nan Huan Nü Xi" is a representative traditional folk dance in Yixing, which also holds significant importance in Nuo ritual ceremonies. Through centuries of evolution and inheritance, it has developed into an aesthetic manifestation that combines historical culture with modern trends, with its performance costumes being particularly representative. This paper aims to analyze and summarize the expressive costumes, artistic features, and inherent folk culture of the current inheritance of "Nan Huan Nü Xi," delving into its geographical attributes, social background, and religious beliefs. The research demonstrates that while preserving the core elements of inheritance, the costumes of "Nan Huan Nü Xi" in Yixing constantly adjust themselves to the aesthetic tendencies of the era, reflecting the profound historical significance and vitality of folk dance represented by "Nan Huan Nü Xi," as well as the transition of traditional folk art from being "god-centered" to being "human-centered."

Kantor’s encounters with a rhinoceros: ‘Costumology’ between material and metaphor

Exploring the example of an exhibition of costumes at the Cricoteka – the archive of Tadeusz Kantor – this article addresses the question of costume in performance through reading with several of Kantor’s essays from 1961 to 1962; specifically, ‘My scenic ideas’, ‘Encounter with Dürer’s Rhinoceros’ and his homage to ‘Maria Jarema’. Taking up Kantor’s suggestions concerning a ‘costumology’, in the light of his concept of an ‘inside out space’, the discussion focuses on the dynamics of metaphor and materiality in costume through reflection on what is specific to Kantor’s understanding of theatre making ‘on the plane of art’. His avant-gardist insistence on the artistic transformation of reality offers a critique of claims concerning naturalism in theatre and engages with what has since been widely recognized as ‘post-dramatic’ practice in the work of Kantor’s Cricot 2 theatre.

Exploring the Costume Styling and Material Composition of the Effutu Festival Costumes

This study investigates the costume styling and material composition of Effutu festival costumes. It is delimited to Effutu festival performance costumes. The qualitative design was adopted. The ethnography approach was employed through narrative analysis and oral history. Unstructured interviews and on-site direct observations were the qualitative data collection instrument used for the data collection. The narrative analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that historically costumes are seen as relics that can tell the story about the exploits and traditional mythologies of the communities. Again, costumes that materialise culture and identities do not just mirror pre-existing sets of ideas or symbolic systems but facilitate values as ‘they form part of an ethnohistorical repository of knowledge. The findings further revealed that, costume styling could be categorised into Royal, Ritual, Asafo (war/battle), Generational, Women ensembles (Adzewa costumes) and Fanciful costumes. The basic material composition of costumes includes fabrics (both applied and structural designs), leather, horsetail, metal helmets, pillows, kaolin, beads (plastic and glass), mpoboa (shoes), symbolic colours and other material collaboration. It is recommended that costumes used for the Effutu festival be recorded and digitalised for future reference.

Ginkgo biloba Metaphor On Gala Party Performance Costume Design

The Ginkgo biloba plant is the only living species in the division of Ginkgophyta. It is also known as the maidenhair tree. The uniqueness of Ginkgo biloba lies in its fan-shaped leaves. The color and shape of Ginkgo biloba have been adapted into a performance costume for the prestigious Met Gala Party. This article discusses the design of the stage costume using Ginkgo biloba as a source of metaphor in fashion with adaptation techniques. The method used involves designing fashion products, starting from creating a concept, and mood board, making several alternative designs, and product prototypes. The resulting product is a Ginkgo biloba metaphor visualized in the form of fashion silhouettes, colors, accessories, and decorative details in the form of knife pleats. Respondent’s response to the metaphor through the adaptation technique of the Ginkgo biloba leaf shape is that almost all respondents can capture it well in the form of accessories, knife pleats, and silhouettes. However, the metaphor through the adaptation technique of the pattern arrangement, less than half of the respondents can capture it. In terms of color, almost all respondents can capture the color metaphor in the monochromatic scheme of the basic yellow color as the source of color ideas from Ginkgo biloba.

나전과 한지 공예기법을 활용한 신한복 공연의상 개발

‘방탄소년단’, ‘블랙핑크’ 등의 케이팝 아티스트, 넷플릭스의 ‘킹덤’과 ‘오징어 게임’ 등의 케이드라마로 대 표되는 신한류의 열풍에 따라, 케이팝 아티스트가 출연하는 예능, 유튜브 영상, 케이드라마를 통해 등장하는 패션도 전 세계적으로 주목을 받고 있다. 본 연구에서는 뉴 미디어 환경에서 다양한 한류 문화에 대한 경험과 소비가 증가하는 시점에서, 특별히 케이팝 아티스트들의 공연의상을 통해 표현될 수 있는 한국적 디자인 개 발을 시도하였다. 이를 위하여 전통 공예인 나전과 한지 공예를 현대화하여 의복에 적용시키는 방식을 개발 하고 이를 활용한 신한복 공연의상을 디자인하였다. 공예 재료와 기법의 특성상 실물 나전과 한지를 일상복 에 적용시키기에는 세탁과 내구성 등에 한계가 있지만, 일회성으로 소모되는 공연의상에는 전통 공예를 활용 하여 좀 더 화려하고 자유로운 디자인 표현이 가능하였다. 연구 결과로서, 나전을 활용한 공예 기법은 판 자개와 가루 자개를 활용한 나전칠기, 자개 비즈를 활용한 비딩, 자개 사진의 디지털 텍스타일 프린트, 나전 칠기를 연상하는 자수 기법으로 개발되었다. 한지를 이용한 공예 기법은 한지 코사주 장식, 한지사를 활용한 스티치, 한지에 민화를 프린트한 아플리케 등의 기법으로 개발되었다. 또한, 개발한 공예 기법을 효과적으로 표현하고 의상에 적용하기 위하여 전통 한복의 디자인 요소를 활용하여 드레스 1벌, 상의 3벌, 하의 3벌, 장식 3개를 디자인하였고, 그 중 드레스 1벌, 상의 1벌, 하의 2벌, 장식 2개를 대표로 제작하였다. 본 연구는 신한복 공연의상의 창의적 디자인 요소로서 전통 공예 기법의 개발 사례를 제시하였으며, 이는 국내외 신한복 시장 의 활성화와 한국의 전통 문화 홍보에 기여할 수 있는 기초 자료가 되리라 기대한다.

영화 『헤드윅』과 소리꾼 이희문의 드랙퀸 분장 - 엔터테인먼트 요소 관점을 중심으로 -

This paper studied the drag queen makeup of ‘Hedwig’, the main character of the movie 『Hedwig』, and the drag queen makeup of Lee Hee-moon. The study began from the point that Lee Hee-moon's Korean drag queen outfit was shown in various domestic TV programs and performances. The purpose of this study was to analyze the differences between Lee Hee-moon's drag queen makeup and the drag queen makeup of Hedwig. As a research method, it summarized the types and characteristics of all drag queen costumes worn in the scene where Hedwig performed in the movie 『Hedwig』 and analyzed the drag queen costume of Lee Hee-moon, who is active in domestic TV, YouTube (YouTube) channels, and live performances. The preceding research papers of this study mainly focused on drag queen's gender identity analysis and Hedwig's performance costume analysis. In this paper, it focused on the use of drag queen makeup as an entertainment element rather than Hedwig's gender performance. Lee Hee-moon's drag queen makeup was analyzed focusing on the <Sing Sing Band> to which he belonged. It referred to his new performances after the disbandment of <Sing Sing Band>. A comparative study on Lee Hee-moon's drag queen makeup was conducted mainly with the contents of his interview and what he said in his radio or TV appearances. The result of the study shows that Lee Hee-moon's drag queen makeup appeared in various art genres, broadcasting, and media using entertainment elements and it is predicted that various art genres could be used as entertainment elements and tried in media and performances in the future.

Performance Costume: New Perspectives and Methods, Sofia Pantouvaki and Peter McNeil (eds) (2021)

Review of: Performance Costume: New Perspectives and Methods, Sofia Pantouvaki and Peter McNeil (eds) (2021) London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 398 pp., ISBN 978-1-35009-879-4, p\bk, €22.96 (£22.99/USD 30.95)

Performance Costume: New Perspectives and Methods, Sofia Pantouvaki and Peter McNeil (2021)

Review of: Performance Costume: New Perspectives and Methods, Sofia Pantouvaki and Peter McNeil (2021) London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 400 pp., ISBN: 978-1-35009-879-4, h/bk, $95.00

Costume, performance, and society: Engaging in a dialogue

Bearing in mind the potential of costume to construct and actively create meanings and to initiate, shape, and define a performance, the paper examines the nature and role of performance costume in projects and performances of several important Croatian artists who are either costume designers or performance artists or both, such as Vlasta Delimar, Ivana Popović, Ksenija Kordić, Tajči Čekada, and Ivana Bakal, and whose work significantly modified the notion and status of costume and costume design(er) in Croatian performing arts at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries. Furthermore, it focuses on the strategies of costume design(er) in articulating the relationship between costume, performance, and society with special emphasis on the position of costume design(er) and costume based performance towards producing, interpreting or performing various individual and collective identities, body, ecology, social activism, and the artist's social status.

Spatializing material–corporeal entanglements: A new materialist approach to the agential work of costume in the stage adaptation of The Lovely Bones (2018)

This article argues for the value of conceptualizing the agency of costume in performance when it is not worn directly upon the body. I employ a new materialist framework to examine the spatial dynamics of the shifting corporeal–material relations established when costume is set apart from an actor onstage and, unworn, asserts its agency as an independent force distinct from the performer. My investigation is supported by a close analysis of Bryony Lavery’s page-to-stage adaptation of Alice Sebold’s novel, The Lovely Bones (2002), directed by Melly Still and performed at the Royal &amp; Derngate, Northampton in 2018. Drawing upon the observation of rehearsals and performances encountered as an embedded researcher, my discussion centres on the live practices of theatrical production. Employing Bennett’s new materialist thinking laid out in Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things (2010) and Bill Brown’s ‘Thing Theory’ (2001, 2015), my discussion of The Lovely Bones shows costume to be an active participant in a ‘distributive agency’ enacted between garment and performer, the contours of which are amplified when the two are set apart. The spatial disentanglement of the material and corporeal, evidenced in the performance of costume in The Lovely Bones, thus provides an opportunity to present a fuller understanding of the material agency of the stage.

Des Moines Gay Men’s Chorus, Queer Spaces, Collectives Styles, and Activist Dress, 1984 to the Present

During the 1970s, people in the United States founded gay and lesbian choruses for political activism, coming out, and celebration. We examined the history of one of these choruses, the Des Moines Gay Men’s Chorus (DMGMC). We asked, how do their bodies in motion and styling-fashioning-dressing produce, distribute, and negotiate queer representations? How do they appear across space and time? How can these style-fashion-dress acts open multiple interpretations and dialectical subtleties? To answer these questions, we analyzed the original DMGMC slogan T-shirt, the digital archive of historical LGBT T-shirts, performance videos and imagery, song lyrics, news articles, and oral histories. The chorus members negotiated queer sensibilities, choral traditions, activism, and community building through their T-shirts and performance costumes in complex ways. They negotiated queer representations by creating temporary queer spaces during the AIDS crisis and highlighting how community and visibility have been significant in gay history. However, the chorus often prioritized an appropriate kind of gay man via dress, which they reinforced through racial-power dynamics, complex-gender associations related to tuxedos, and cabaret performance outfits that included nun’s habits. The chorus’ various collective styles esthetically represent how gay men’s choruses navigate entanglements of tradition, gayness, and music while reclaiming oppressive symbology.

A study on the utilization of cultural contents through the reproduction of the armor culture archetype

The purpose of this study was to identify the structure and characteristics for the reproduction of the armor in the Unified Silla period, and then reproduce and utilize it as a cultural content. In the armor reproduction project excavated from Jaemaejeong, Gyeongju. Jaemaejeong armor is consisting of Singap (身甲, body armor), Sanggap (裳甲, hip armor), and Sangbakgap (上膊甲, upper arm armor) at the time of excavation. Unlike the armor of the Three Kingdoms period, Singap and Sanggap are separated. Singap is Yangdangsik (裲襠式, side opening method) and Gyunggap (頸 甲, gorget) was not unearthed, Sangbakgap was divided into a part that protects the left and right upper arms and a part that protects the chest, so that the unexcavated head and neck cover of the helmet can be protected to the shoulder. In addition, in the case of Chalgap (札甲, lamellar armor), the Oejungsik (外重式, folded from outside to inside) is mainly used, but it is peculiar that Naejungsik (內重式, folded from inside to outside) is used in Sangbakgap of Jaemaejeong armor. It is presumed that this was used as a method to ensure that the armor were closely attached to the human body. In order to design with the parade armor of Gochwidae in Gyeongju based on the reproduced Jaemaejeong armor, the designer’s imagination and historical work of the times were involved due to the characteristics of performance costumes. Reproduced armor as a cultural content should be considered indispensable to simplify and lighten clothing suitable for performances based on the excavated historical armor.

Tawny fronts: Colonial whiteness, Orientalism and representations of Cleopatra on the Australian stage

This article traces how notions of colonial identity have played out in theatrical representations of Cleopatra on the Australian stage in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries – focusing on culturally produced costumed bodies as a site on to which ideas of colonial whiteness, Orientalism and modernity are projected. These representations of the ‘exotic’ Other also absorb popularly accepted ideas of femininity and female power in the circulation of familiar visual tropes. In the temporal space of the twentieth century, Anglo-Australian’s dominant theatrical references shifted from those associated with its European colonial subject’s cultural origins to those of a more globalized and culturally diverse nation still struggling to decolonize its cultural edifices. Close examination of the costumed bodies of Sarah Bernhardt and Lily Brayton as two touchstone versions of Cleopatra on the Australian stage at the dawn of the modern period, reveals the nascent creation of an aesthetic and stylistic cultural vernacular that would slowly develop throughout the twentieth century in the circulation of meaning between costume, bodies and audiences. For the contemporary practitioner, this provides some insight into the historical context of stereotypical costume tropes in which Orientalist ideals are circulated, as well as drawing attention to a particular political and ideological aspect of the complex relationship between the performing body and performance costume.

Costume in the dance archive: Towards a records-centred ethics of care

Focusing on the archival records of the production and performance of Dance in Trees and Church by the Swedish independent dance group Rubicon, this article conceptualizes a records-oriented costume ethics. Theorizations of costume as a co-creative agent of performance are brought into the dance archive to highlight the productivity of paying attention to costume in the making of performance history. Addressing recent developments within archival studies, a feminist ethics of care and radical empathy is employed, which is the capability to empathically engage with others, even if it can be difficult, as a means of exploring how a records-centred costume ethics can be conceptualized for the dance archive. The exploration resulted in two ethical stances useful for better attending to costume-bodies in the dance archive: (1) caring for costume-body relations in the dance archive means that a conventional, so-called static understanding of records as neutral carriers of facts is replaced by a more inclusive, expanding and infinite process. By moving across time and space, and with a caring attitude finding and exploring fragments from various, sometimes contradictory production processes, one can help scattered and poorly represented dance and costume histories to emerge and contribute to the formation of identity and memory. (2) The use of bodily empathy with records can respectfully bring together the understanding of costume in performance as inseparable from the performer’s body with dance as an art form that explicitly uses the dancing costume-body as an expressive tool. It is argued that bodily empathy with records in the dance archive helps one access bodily holisms that create possibilities for exploring the potential of art to critically expose and render strange ideological systems and normativities.

EM CONVERSA COM DONATELLA BARBIERI

Tradução da entrevista realizada com a figurinista e pesquisadora Donatella Barbieri, publicada online na revista italiana Artribune, em 2017,(https://www.artribune.com/editoria/2017/05/intervista-donatella-barbieri-libro-costume-performance), na língua italiana, com acréscimos da curadora e historiadora de moda Nádia Saccardi, que a entrevistou, alé de adições da própria entrevistada para a versão em inglês, realizada em 2019. O texto discorre sobre o livro Costume in Performance: Materiality Culture and the Body, publicado depois de seis anos de incubação, em 2017. Após ser indicado para o Prêmio Literário da Society of Theatre Research em 2018, o livro recebeu o prêmio de Melhor Publicação sobre Desenho da Cena e Cenografia, na Quadrienal de Praga 2019.The Best Performance Design and Scenography Publication Award Palavras-chave Figurino. Teatro. Performance. Arquivos. Victoria &amp; Albert Museum.

The Social and Cultural Characteristics of Shanxi Ancient Drama Costumes

The main research subject of this paper is the costume of Shanxi ancient drama, which is used to decorate the role in the form of drama performing art that spread in Ancient Shanxi. Drama costume is a kind of special performance costume which combines decoration, acting and symbolism. It is quite different from the traditional costume in aesthetic and functional aspects. The social and cultural factors that influence the costume of Shanxi ancient drama mainly include the system and rules of Chinese ancient costume, the subtle influence of Buddhist culture and Taoist culture, as well as the profound influence of loyalty culture.

Unraveling Psychologically: Knitting in Performance Costume and the Themes of You Got Older (2015)

The act of knitting within the practice of performance costume design and making remains largely unexplored within scholarship and yet hand-knitted garments feature regularly as key items of characters’ costumes in stage, television and film productions. While providing a pleasing esthetic dimension to a production’s look as well as conveying feelings of comfort and domesticity, seeing a character knit on stage can also point to themes of mental breakdown and a character’s attempts to order their world. This article explores not only these thematic concerns within Clare Barron’s play You Got Older (2015), but how the act of designing and knitting costumes for a text-based theatrical performance can support actors’ work to highlight a play’s dialogue and writing. It also discusses how hand-knitted costumes and props can allow audiences to make sense of the symbolic and material worlds of a play and provides designers with greater insights into how the systems and processes of knitting can help to create and represent these worlds.

Costume in Performance: Materiality, Culture, and the Body By DonatellaBarbieri (with a contribution from Melissa Trimingham). London: Bloomsbury, 2017.

Costume in Performance: Materiality, Culture, and the Body By DonatellaBarbieri (with a contribution from Melissa Trimingham). London: Bloomsbury, 2017.