This selection of historical garments, from the Cornell Costume and Textile Collection, has been photographed by costume historian Susan Greene in hopes to better educate students about the ‘fit’ of clothing on the human form.
This particular set of garments was created for students enrolled in THETR 356-Costume Construction, a course designed to introduce students to the basic sewing, draping, patterning and fitting skills used in costume production. By reproducing a period bodice for the stage, students learn to assess and evaluate the cut and fit of an actual historical garment with their corresponding theatrical translation. The course utilizes the construction methods used in creating what is known as an ‘opera bodice’; a period based garment whose outside silhouette and cut duplicates the period being reproduced but whose underlying corset structure is inherently built into it. The garments selected for this course database lend themselves to this specific need of incorporating the bodice and corset. Until now the course has primarily relied upon photographs of garments from various historical costume exhibits. The drawbacks associated with using such research are the obvious limitations in the size and clarity of the printed 2D pictures, the lack of alternative views and or detail shots, and the fact that the garment is not physically accessible to the student should it be necessary.
It is the hope of the instructor that by integrating VR technologies into this course we are not only able to make use of and preserve a portion of Cornell University’s invaluable clothing collection but to provide a way for students to directly see a correlation of historical fit with their theatrical adaptations on modern bodies in order to enhance the success of the staged illusion.
The development of this site was funded by a Faculty Innovation and Teaching Award given to Susan Ashdown and Richard MacPike in 2003. The project was designed to introduce and integrate 3D-VR technology into the course content for apparel designers and theatrical costume designers at Cornell
Project management: Noni Korf Vidal
Web design: Roberta Militello
Costume historian: Susan Greene
Photography: Soule Golden and Megan Cass
Contact Us!
For more information regarding THETR 356-Costume Construction please contact Richard MacPike.
For more information on the Cornell Costume and Textile Collection please contact Charlotte Jirousek, Curator.