Theatre Costume
1954 (designed)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
This headdress was designed by Oliver Messel for Edith Evans as the Countess in Christopher Fry's verse play The Dark is Light Enough at the Aldwych Theatre in 1954.
Messel was a master of materials. When he drew a design, he knew how it should be made and was quite capable of making it himself or show his selected maker how it should be made. The design is based on fashionable headwear for an 18th century matron, which would have been made in laces and silk ribbons. Such materials would look far too flimsy on stage and would also not be durable enough for the wear and tear of a long run, so Messel has used his favourite crin, a synthetic mesh, which will hold its shape.
Oliver Messel (1904-1978) was Britain’s leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s, working in every aspect of entertainment - ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue - as well as in interior decoration and textile design. His lavish, painterly and romantic designs informed by period styles, were perfectly in tune with his times and earned him an international reputation. By 1960, however, Messel’s style had become unfashionable, having no sympathy with the new 'kitchen sink' school of theatre. He increasingly concentrated on his non-theatrical painting and designing and eventually retired to the Caribbean, where he began a new career designing and building highly idiosyncratic luxury villas.
Messel was a master of materials. When he drew a design, he knew how it should be made and was quite capable of making it himself or show his selected maker how it should be made. The design is based on fashionable headwear for an 18th century matron, which would have been made in laces and silk ribbons. Such materials would look far too flimsy on stage and would also not be durable enough for the wear and tear of a long run, so Messel has used his favourite crin, a synthetic mesh, which will hold its shape.
Oliver Messel (1904-1978) was Britain’s leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s, working in every aspect of entertainment - ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue - as well as in interior decoration and textile design. His lavish, painterly and romantic designs informed by period styles, were perfectly in tune with his times and earned him an international reputation. By 1960, however, Messel’s style had become unfashionable, having no sympathy with the new 'kitchen sink' school of theatre. He increasingly concentrated on his non-theatrical painting and designing and eventually retired to the Caribbean, where he began a new career designing and building highly idiosyncratic luxury villas.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Materials and techniques | crin, gold strip, imitation pearls, gold beads, gilt mounts, cotton net, velvet ribbon, lace, wire, |
Brief description | Headdress designed by Oliver Messel for Edith Evans as the Countess in Christopher Fry's play, The Dark is Light Enough, 1954 |
Physical description | Headband of stiff wire to which is attached a longer band of double wire bound together with off white net ending below the ears. Over the head is a serpentine frill of crin ribbon between each loop of which is set a smoked pearl set in a gilt filigree bead mount and surmounted with a tiny gold bead. Behind the pearls is an upstanding gathered crin frill with gold metal strip edging. To each end of the band, at either side of the head, is a large oval rosette of deep crin frill edged with narrow crin ribbon woven with gold metal strip and off-white threat at the edge. Within is a bold crin frill edged with narrow black lace; down the centre are two flower rosettes of crin interlaced with gold metal strip centered with rhinestone quatrefoils; at the bottom of each rosette are three loops of narrow black velvet ribbon. |
Credit line | Acquired with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A |
Object history | The headdress was designed by Oliver Messel for Edith Evans as the Countess in Christopher Fry's verse play The Dark is Light Enough at the Aldwych Theatre in 1954. 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. |
Summary | This headdress was designed by Oliver Messel for Edith Evans as the Countess in Christopher Fry's verse play The Dark is Light Enough at the Aldwych Theatre in 1954. Messel was a master of materials. When he drew a design, he knew how it should be made and was quite capable of making it himself or show his selected maker how it should be made. The design is based on fashionable headwear for an 18th century matron, which would have been made in laces and silk ribbons. Such materials would look far too flimsy on stage and would also not be durable enough for the wear and tear of a long run, so Messel has used his favourite crin, a synthetic mesh, which will hold its shape. Oliver Messel (1904-1978) was Britain’s leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s, working in every aspect of entertainment - ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue - as well as in interior decoration and textile design. His lavish, painterly and romantic designs informed by period styles, were perfectly in tune with his times and earned him an international reputation. By 1960, however, Messel’s style had become unfashionable, having no sympathy with the new 'kitchen sink' school of theatre. He increasingly concentrated on his non-theatrical painting and designing and eventually retired to the Caribbean, where he began a new career designing and building highly idiosyncratic luxury villas. |
Bibliographic reference | Pinkham, Roger (ed.) Oliver Messel, London, V&A, 1983
66j
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Other number | ROT 8856 - TM Rotation Number |
Collection | |
Accession number | S.546-2006 |
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Record created | March 5, 2007 |
Record URL |
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