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Theatre Costume

1958 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The role of Paola in Duel of Angels was created by the noted French actress Edwige Feuillère, for whom the celebrated couturier Christian Dior created the costumes. By 1958, when the play was presented in London, with Vivien Leigh as Paola, Dior was dead and so the costume was recreated by the London costume firm Bermans without the benefit of Dior's overseeing.
Dior cleverly retained the characteristics of the period in which the play was set - 1859 - while reinventing the period style in terms of his own New Look and the 1950s. There were indeed similarities between the looks, the fitted bodices and wide full skirts, but Dior incorporates touches that could only be of the 1950s - like box pleats in the skirt. Rather than create the tightwaisted look by full-length corseting or Dior's 'waspie' corset, the shaping structure is built into the jacket itself, using interlined seaming and some light boning, so that the illusion of the corseting is maintained while leaving the actress in relative comfort.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 3 parts.
(Some alternative part names are also shown below)
  • Theatre Costume
  • Jacket
  • Theatre Costume
  • Skirt
  • Theatre Costume
  • Hat
Brief description
Costume worn by Vivien Leigh as Paola in the play Duel of Angels, Apollo Theatre, London, 1958
Dimensions
  • Height: 200cm
  • Width: 150cm
  • Depth: 150cm
Whole costume measured on mannequin. Includes train
Gallery label
Costume for Paola in Duel of Angels 1958 Christian Dior designed this elegant costume for Vivien Leigh in the style of his New Look, which revolutionised fashion in the 1940s and 1950s. While the costume suggests a 19th-century style, the tightly fitted and boned jacket, emphasising the waist, has all the trademarks of the New Look. Play by Jean Giraudoux, 1953 Apollo Theatre, London Silk, net, wool and lace Designed by Christian Dior (1905–57) Given by the British Theatre Museum Association Museum no. S.1443&A, B-1984 (March 2009)
Credit line
Given by the British Theatre Museum Association
Object history
Christian Dior designed the costumes for the original Paris production of Jean Giraudoux's play Pour Lucrèce , which was produced at the Apollo Theatre, London in 1958 as Duel of Angels in a translation by Christopher Fry. The costumes were recreated by Bermans after Dior's sketches.

Given to the British Theatre Museum Association by Dorothy Langley Moore in April 1965.
Summary
The role of Paola in Duel of Angels was created by the noted French actress Edwige Feuillère, for whom the celebrated couturier Christian Dior created the costumes. By 1958, when the play was presented in London, with Vivien Leigh as Paola, Dior was dead and so the costume was recreated by the London costume firm Bermans without the benefit of Dior's overseeing.
Dior cleverly retained the characteristics of the period in which the play was set - 1859 - while reinventing the period style in terms of his own New Look and the 1950s. There were indeed similarities between the looks, the fitted bodices and wide full skirts, but Dior incorporates touches that could only be of the 1950s - like box pleats in the skirt. Rather than create the tightwaisted look by full-length corseting or Dior's 'waspie' corset, the shaping structure is built into the jacket itself, using interlined seaming and some light boning, so that the illusion of the corseting is maintained while leaving the actress in relative comfort.
Other number
1965/A/33/A - BTMA accession number
Collection
Accession number
S.1443&B-1984

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Record createdJune 15, 1999
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