Fashion in Film: Period Costumes for the Screen

The exhibition features thirty-six period costumes worn by movie stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and Gwyneth Paltrow in major motion pictures, from critically acclaimed films Dangerous Liaisons and Sense and Sensibility to blockbusters Indiana Jones and Titanic. The Paine’s presentation of the exhibition uniquely sets the elaborate costumes within the grandest rooms of the historic mansion.

Fashion in Film highlights selections from the collection of period attire from Cosprop, Ltd., the world-renowned costume house in London, England. The costumes have been worn by well-known actors in some of the most popular and successful period television and film productions of the last few decades, including several pictures that received Oscar and Emmy nominations and awards for costume design. The featured costumes range from a Renaissance-era green velvet dress worn by Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth to a 1950s pink silk dress worn by Madonna in Evita. Other selections include a winged party dress worn by Drew Barrymore in Ever After, a wool coat and top hat worn by Ralph Fiennes in Onegin, and a fur shawl and feathered hat worn by Jacqueline Bisset in Murder on the Orient Express. Many items are accompanied by film stills showing the actors wearing them.

The exquisite selection comes from a stock of nearly 100,000 costumes and accessories made by Cosprop, which specializes in creating costumes for film, television, and theater. The exhibited costumes demonstrate the development of fashion from the sixteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. Having mostly been made for film adaptations of classical novels, the costumes in Fashion in Film closely follow original models in the cut and materials used.