Not currently on display at the V&A

Costume Design

1973 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Great Britain’s leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s, Oliver Messel (1904-1978) won international acclaim for his lavish, painterly and poetic designs informed by period styles. His work spans ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue. Messel’s traditional style of theatre design became unfashionable from the mid 1950s onwards, and he increasingly concentrated on painting, interior and textile design, including designing luxury homes in the Caribbean.

Collette’s (1873-1954) story about Gigi, a young Parisian girl tutored in the arts of a courtesan by her aunts but finds true love, was turned into a musical film by Lerner and Loewe in 1958 which they adapted for the stage in 1973. First performed in San Francisco and then presented on Broadway, New York, critical reaction was lukewarm. Messel designed the costumes only, his last designs for the theatre.

Karin Wolfe (1944-) played the role of Gigi. She replaced Terese Stevens at the last moment, possibly a factor in the poor critical reception of the play.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Charcoal, pencil, gouache, watercolour on paper
Brief description
Costume design by Oliver Messel for Gigi in Lerner and Lowe's musical Gigi, 1973.
Physical description
Costume design by Oliver Messel for Gigi in the musical Gigi, 1973. A seated girl wearing a white knee-length dress with a pink sash at the waist tied in a bow at the back. In her right hand she holds a yellow straw hat with a blue ribbon.
Dimensions
  • Sheet height: 37cm
  • Sheet width: 25.5cm
Production typeDesign
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'Oliver Messel' (Artist's signature in pencil on the bottom right-hand corner on the front of the sheet.)
  • '3' (Pencil inscription on the top left hand corner on the front of the sheet.)
  • 'Gigi, first dress' (Pencil inscription on the top right hand corner on the front of the sheet.)
Credit line
Acquired with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A
Object history
Gigi, a musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, adapted from a Colette novel of the same name (published 1944). Oliver Messel’s production was first presented by Arnold Saint-Subber and Edwin Lester in San Francisco on 15 May 1973, then toured to St. Louis, Detroit and Toronto before being performed on Broadway at the Uris Theatre, New York on 13 November 1973. It was directed by Joseph Hardy and featured Daniel Massey as Gaston Lachailles and Karin Wolfe as Gigi. Roger Pinkham has said “The costumes are very much in the idiom of the turn of the century and are endlessly inventive bringing back much of the tenderness found in Renior and Bonnard.” (Pinkham, ed., 1983). Lord Snowdon, Oliver Messel's nephew, inherited Messel's theatre designs and other designs and artefacts. The designs were briefly stored in a disused chapel in Kensington Palace before being housed at the V&A from 1981 on indefinite loan. The V&A Theatre Museum purchased the Oliver Messel collection from Lord Snowdon in 2005.

Historical significance: Messel's last commission for the stage.
Production
Reason For Production: Commission
Summary
Great Britain’s leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s, Oliver Messel (1904-1978) won international acclaim for his lavish, painterly and poetic designs informed by period styles. His work spans ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue. Messel’s traditional style of theatre design became unfashionable from the mid 1950s onwards, and he increasingly concentrated on painting, interior and textile design, including designing luxury homes in the Caribbean.

Collette’s (1873-1954) story about Gigi, a young Parisian girl tutored in the arts of a courtesan by her aunts but finds true love, was turned into a musical film by Lerner and Loewe in 1958 which they adapted for the stage in 1973. First performed in San Francisco and then presented on Broadway, New York, critical reaction was lukewarm. Messel designed the costumes only, his last designs for the theatre.

Karin Wolfe (1944-) played the role of Gigi. She replaced Terese Stevens at the last moment, possibly a factor in the poor critical reception of the play.
Bibliographic reference
Pinkham, Roger (ed.) Oliver Messel: an exhibition held at the Theatre Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, 22 June - 30 September 1983. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983. 200p., ill ISBN 0905209508)
Other number
ROT 910 - TM Rotation Number
Collection
Accession number
S.89-2006

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Record createdJune 2, 2006
Record URL
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