Costume designed by Alison Chitty for Judi Dench as Cleopatra in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, National Theatre, 1987

S.775:1-1997
Tunic dress in blue silk embroidered in silver thread and sequins. The bodice has a very low scoop neck, edged with vertically-placed glass beads and fastens to the waist with small silver ball buttons; each panel is embroidered with various star or paisley patterns. The full, long sleeves are of blue silk with an all-over Persian-style lattice with central silver sequins, split from shoulder to cuff and linked by long blue glass beads; the sleeves are gathered into tight cuffs, embroidered with silver thread and sequins. The skirt is made of a series of pleated panels in blue silk embroidered with stars, lined with blue silk woven with a narrow vertical gold stripe. Down the front is a narrow panel of the same fabric as the sleeves, finished in an elaborate motif in silver thread and sequins.

S.775:2-1997
Trousers, formed of two extremely wide tubes of blue silk, fixed on to hipster waistband with downward point to centre front and back.

S.775:3-1997
Long sash of blue silk with dark blue geometric pattern, lined with blue silk woven with fine gold stripes. Fixed to the front is a horizontally pleated band of the blue silk with the geometric pattern, the ends weighted with glass beads; at the top edge is a loosely fixed narrow plait of the blue and gold-striped fabric, ending in two large tassels.

The costume, designed by Alison Chitty, was worn by Judi Dench in the final scenes of the National Theatre's production of Antony and Cleopatra, directed by Peter Hall. The production opened at the National's Olivier Theatre on 9 April 1987.

Costume designed by Alison Chitty for Judi Dench as Cleopatra in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, National Theatre, 1987.

This costume was worn by Judi Dench in the later part of the play, beginning with the scene on the monument when Cleopatra takes her last farewell of the dying Antony. All the Egyptian women wore trousers which combined practically with style, giving freedom of movement without being too revealing. Designer Alison Chitty and the National Theatre’s Head of Costume, Janet Mayo, told the V&A that the design of the trousers was taken from research into early Egyptian clothes and allowed the actors ‘to move freely in a hot, lazy and sometimes louche way. This contrasted with the dress of the Romans, which was based on Veronese’s paintings of Classical figures, their clothes were more tailored and formal.’ Antony and the Romans wore armour, the uniform of the military in Rome, over doublets and breeches, linking them to the period when the play was written.

Cleopatra’s costume uses embroidered sari fabric and this, together with the dense natural colours selected by Alison Chitty, enhanced the mercurial “gypsy” quality in Judi Dench’s performance.

S.775:1 to 3-1997