Costume Design thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Costume Design

1931 (drawn)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This costume is for one of the guests at a ball held during Act I Scene VIII of Noel Coward's Cavalcade. The play follows the lives of the Marryott family, and their servants, over three decades. It premiered at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 1931.

Gladys Calthrop (1894-1980) was an English set and costume designer. Born Gladys Treeby in Devon, Calthrop married, and later separated from, Everard E. Calthrop. She met Noel Coward in Italy during 1921, they subsequently became friends and worked together on many plays. Their first collaboration was on The Vortex in 1924 for which Calthrop designed both sets and costumes. She worked in both London and New York.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Watercolour over pencil drawing
Brief description
Costume design by Gladys Calthrop for Miss Keay in Noel Coward's Cavalcade, ca. 1931. Gladys Calthrop Design Collection
Physical description
Costume design depicting a floor length tiered light blue dress with a black bow tied behind the waist and another bow around the top. Costume also includes long white gloves and a choker. There are notes written around the page. Signed to the left of image.
Dimensions
  • Height: 56.0cm
  • Width: 38.3cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • '10 / SK.C.50' (Written in top left hand corner)
  • 'Miss Keay / Edwardian Reception 1903' (Written in top right hand corner)
  • 'pale blue chiffon / over white satin / black velvet lined pink satin / for sash and bertha / black narrow velvet on hem' (Written to the right of the image)
Credit line
Bequeathed by Gladys Calthrop
Literary referenceCavalcade
Summary
This costume is for one of the guests at a ball held during Act I Scene VIII of Noel Coward's Cavalcade. The play follows the lives of the Marryott family, and their servants, over three decades. It premiered at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 1931.

Gladys Calthrop (1894-1980) was an English set and costume designer. Born Gladys Treeby in Devon, Calthrop married, and later separated from, Everard E. Calthrop. She met Noel Coward in Italy during 1921, they subsequently became friends and worked together on many plays. Their first collaboration was on The Vortex in 1924 for which Calthrop designed both sets and costumes. She worked in both London and New York.
Other number
THM/52 - Archive number
Collection
Accession number
S.758-2011

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Record createdAugust 19, 2011
Record URL
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