| Description | The Original Practices Clothes Archive is a collection of 25 original sets of clothes created for Shakespeare’s Globe in the period 1997-2005, all of which were constructed using Elizabethan and Jacobean methods and historically accurate materials. The clothes in the collection were selected by Olivier Award-winning designer Jenny Tiramani, who was Master of Clothing, Properties and Hangings at the Globe 1997-2005, as representative of the research and experimental techniques into historical pattern cutting and construction undertaken by her and her team in the development of Original Practices in clothing as a discipline. Although of recent construction, all the clothing and accessories were created using only techniques and materials available to contemporary theatre companies, painstakingly recreated after extensive research into extant clothing, documents and visual resources from the period. Authenticity extends to undergarments, and the aim in every case was a faithful reproduction of the kinds of clothing worn by the players at the first Globe Theatre. The specially commissioned textiles and specific skills used to create the clothing make them a unique and irreplaceable resource.
The pieces in the collection have been chosen to cover a variety of 16th and 17th century clothing styles, both male and female, and effort has been made to ensure that each outfit is as complete as possible, including head tires, undergarments, shoes and accessories. There are a number of different examples of contemporary dress represented, from mourning clothing to exotic masque-like attire; from intricate embroidery and wire-work to middle-class wools and linens. All the textiles created for the Original Practice productions are precious, and some are priceless. The pregnancy gown designed for Hermione in the 2005 production of The Winter’s Tale is made entirely of hand-woven Italian cut velvet, and is the only full cut velvet dress in existence today.
The Archive also features a small collection of antique textiles, the throne canopy and hangings used for the 2003 Original Practices production of Richard II, and a selection of toiles used to cut clothes from 1997-1999. |