What is ‘critical’ about costume

What is ‘critical’ about costume?

Dr. Rachel Hann

University of Surrey

www.rachelhann.com

What does it mean to be critical about costume?

Costume is that which is perceptually indistinct from the

actor’s body, and yet something that can be removed.

Costume is a body that can be taken off.

(Monks 2010: 11)

Costume is that which is perceptually indistinct from the

actor’s body, and yet something that can be removed.

Costume is a body that can be taken off.

(Monks 2010: 11)

What is a critical approach to costume?


[Critical Costume] is rich in its potential play on the word

‘critical’ – as analytical, crucial, serious and essential – even

harbouring a threat should certain things be ignored. In other

words, the critical signals that something major is at stake,

thereby de-trivializing the ‘theatrical’ – too often considered

false, exaggerated or histrionic – and emphasizing the fact

that the lived world itself is far stranger than fiction.

(Hannah 2014: 16)

[Critical Costume] is rich in its potential play on the word

‘critical’ – as analytical, crucial, serious and essential – even

harbouring a threat should certain things be ignored. In other

words, the critical signals that something major is at stake,

thereby de-trivializing the ‘theatrical’ – too often considered

false, exaggerated or histrionic – and emphasizing the fact

that the lived world itself is far stranger than fiction.

(Hannah 2014: 16)

Roland Barthes argues that ‘to criticize means to call into

crisis’ (1974: 319). Barthes argues that a critical stance

allows us to, in the first instance, isolate the ‘speck of

ideology’ engrained within an act or object in order to ‘attack

it like an acid capable of dissolving fats of “natural

language”’ (1974: 317).


Roland Barthes argues that ‘to criticize means to call into

crisis’ (1974: 319). Barthes argues that a critical stance

allows us to, in the first instance, isolate the ‘speck of

ideology’ engrained within an act or object in order to ‘attack

it like an acid capable of dissolving fats of “natural

language”’ (1974: 317).


The identification, then, of [people] of critical mind with their

society is marked by tension, and the tension characterizes

all the concepts of the critical way of thinking.

(Horkheimer 1975: 208)


The identification, then, of [people] of critical mind with their

society is marked by tension, and the tension characterizes

all the concepts of the critical way of thinking.

(Horkheimer 1975: 208)


Other ‘critical’ arts practice:

Critical Architecture

Critical Spatial Practice

Critical Design

Critical Engineering


What does it mean to be critical about costume? What is Critical Design?


The critical sensibility, at its most basic, is simply about not

taking things for granted, to question and look beneath the

surface. This is not new and is common in other fields; what

is new is trying to use design as a tool for doing this.

(Dunne in Rickenberg 2008)


The critical sensibility, at its most basic, is simply about not

taking things for granted, to question and look beneath the

surface. This is not new and is common in other fields; what

is new is trying to use design as a tool for doing this.

(Dunne in Rickenberg 2008)

What does it mean to be critical about costume? What does it mean to be critical about costume? Critical Architecture: Theatre of Dionysus and Tschumi's’ Acropolis Museum


In a world that currently remains in the grips of an unjust

corporate and imperialistic capitalism, critical architecture is

urgently required.

(Rendell 2008: 7)


In a world that currently remains in the grips of an unjust

corporate and imperialistic capitalism, critical architecture is

urgently required.

(Rendell 2008: 7)

What does costume do?


The way we use our bodies in daily life is substantially

different from the way we use them in performance. We are

not conscious of our daily techniques: we move, we sit, we

carry things, [...] the body’s daily techniques can be replaced

by extra-daily techniques […]

(Barba & Savarese 2006: 7)

What does it mean to be critical about costume? What does costume do?

The way we use our bodies in daily life is substantially

different from the way we use them in performance. We are

not conscious of our daily techniques: we move, we sit, we

carry things, [...] the body’s daily techniques can be replaced

by extra-daily techniques […]

(Barba & Savarese 2006: 7)

What does it mean to be critical about costume? What does it mean to be critical about costume? Bobby Baker, Give Peas a Chance! (2008)

What does it mean to be critical about costume? What does it mean to be critical about costume? Bobby Baker, Give Peas a Chance! (2008)

What does it mean to be critical about costume? What does it mean to be critical about costume? Michael O’Conner, The Duchess (2008)

An Old Man in Military Costume

1630-1631

Rembranbt


Far from despising this ephemeral art [of costume,

Rembrandt] made deliberate use of clothing to emphasise

the character or social status of the sitters in his portraits

and to clarify the narrative or heighten the drama in his

history pieces.

(de Winkel 2006: 11)


[…] without his clothes a man would be nothing at all; that

the clothes do not merely make the man, the clothes are the

man; that without them he is a cipher, a vacancy, a nobody,

a nothing.

(Twain 1905: 321-322)

What does it mean to be critical about costume? What does it mean to be critical about costume? What does costume do?


Costuming might be read as a verb rather than as a noun

therefore: an act or event that is centered on the ways in

which audiences look at an actor dressed up onstage.

(Monks 2010: 3)


[Costume] opens up a gap between the self and dress,

generalize dress, rendering it desirable and imitable.

(Monks 2010: 36)


The development, dissemination and wide acceptance of the

idea of scenography was a process that relegated costume

design to a supporting role. In many ways, the development

of the idea of scenography sought and achieved a unity of

directing, scene design and lighting design. The issue of

costume design was momentarily set aside in the effort to

forge this unity.

(Unruh 1991a: 28)

Extreme Costume (2011)

Sutre (2011)

Critical Costume 2013

http://www.criticalcostume.com/2013.html

http://www.criticalcostume.com/2013.html

Alex Rigg, 2013


Personally where I get the chance I like to make a costume,

to rehearse somebody and then not give the costume till just

before the show. The costumes are very awkward so they

are constrained. Performers agree that they will attempt the

choreography and the work is then a struggle.

(Rigg in Maclaurin and Monks 2015: 65)

Personally where I get the chance I like to make a costume,

to rehearse somebody and then not give the costume till just

before the show. The costumes are very awkward so they

are constrained. Performers agree that they will attempt the

choreography and the work is then a struggle.

(Rigg in Maclaurin and Monks 2015: 65)


Kissing confounds the division between two bodies,

temporarily creating new definitions of threshold that operate

through suction and slippage rather than delimitation and

boundary. A kiss performs topological inversions, renders

geometry fluid, relies on the atectonic structural prowess of

the tongue, and updates the metric of time. Kissing is a

lovely way to describe a contemporary architectural practice.

(Lavin 2011: 5-10)

Kissing confounds the division between two bodies,

temporarily creating new definitions of threshold that operate

through suction and slippage rather than delimitation and

boundary. A kiss performs topological inversions, renders

geometry fluid, relies on the atectonic structural prowess of

the tongue, and updates the metric of time. Kissing is a

lovely way to describe a contemporary architectural practice.

(Lavin 2011: 5-10)


HUGEtymology

German: Hegen, 'to foster or cherish'

Noun: A strong clasp with the arms; an embrace of affection; also, a close or rough grasp; the clasp or squeeze of a bearA squeezing grip in wrestling

Verb:To clasp or squeeze tightly in the arms: usually with affection = embraceTo exhibit fondness forTo caress or courtTo cherish or cling to (an opinion, belief, etc.) with fervour or fondnessTo cherish oneself; to keep or make oneself snugTo congratulate or felicitate oneself

Verb:To clasp or squeeze tightly in the arms: usually with affection = embraceTo exhibit fondness forTo caress or courtTo cherish or cling to (an opinion, belief, etc.) with fervour or fondnessTo cherish oneself; to keep or make oneself snugTo congratulate or felicitate oneself


Dorita Hannah, Tongues of Stone (2011)




Richard Schechner’s model of performed action:

Being

Doing

Showing

Showing Doing

A model of costume as ‘showing dressing’:

Being

Dress

Dressing

Showing Dressing


Dress is therefore the outcome of practices which are

socially constituted but put into effect by the individual:

individuals must attend to their bodies when they ‘get

dressed’ and it is an experience that is an intimate as it is

social. When we get dress, we do so within the bounds of a

culture and its particular norms, expectations about the body

and about what constitutes a ‘dressed’ body.

(Entwistle 2000: 11)

Dress is therefore the outcome of practices which are

socially constituted but put into effect by the individual:

individuals must attend to their bodies when they ‘get

dressed’ and it is an experience that is an intimate as it is

social. When we get dress, we do so within the bounds of a

culture and its particular norms, expectations about the body

and about what constitutes a ‘dressed’ body.

(Entwistle 2000: 11)

What isWhat isWhen iscostume?

Los Angeles Goes Live (2011) LACE Gallery, LA .

Los Angeles Goes Live (2011) LACE Gallery, LA .

These garments are sculptural notations of the actions left by these performance artists. They function as social and political lenses through which to understand a pioneering movement.

(Ellina Kevorkian, Curatorial Statement 2011)

When is costume?

Theatre was an absolute enemy. It was something

bad, it was something we should not deal with. It

was artificial… We refused the theatrical structure.

(Abramović in Huxley and Witts 1996: 13)

When is costume?

Art degenerates as it approaches the condition of theatre.

(Fried 1967:164)

When is costume?

If he also wears a wide tool-leather belt and even a Western

hat, we do not see this as costume […] it is merely a choice

of clothing. As more and more items of Western clothing–a

bandana, chaps, spurs and so forth–are added, however, we

reach the point where we either see a cowboy or a person

dressed as (impersonating) a cowboy. [...] The effect of

clothing on stage functions in exactly the same way, but it is

more pronounced.

(Kirby 1972: 4)

When is costume?

In relation to a binary of non-matrixed and matrixed

performance:

… the performer does not act and yet [his or her]

costume represents something or someone.

(Kirby 1972: 4)

When is costume?

In England at least “costume” commonly suggests “fancy

dress” or at least “dressing up”. […] As long as “costume”

with us retains this sort of association we shall never

succeed in carrying it off with any semblance of conviction.

(Kelly 1970: 78-79)

What does it mean to be critical about costume? What does it mean to be critical about costume? Plimoth Plantation, USA


Guests in costume cause confusion for people who may not

be able to distinguish costumed guests from the Museum

staff. Therefore, we kindly ask everyone not to

wear historical costume of any kind when visiting us.

(Plimoth Plantation ‘What to Wear?’ 2015)

What does it mean to be critical about costume? When is costume?

When is costume?

When is costume?

What would be your fancy dress costume of choice?

A mask of myself on my face, so people would think I am not

myself but someone pretending to be me.

(Slavoj Žižek interviewed by Rosanna Greenstreet 2008)

United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS)

When is costume?

How can we better arguethe case for costume?


Interdisciplinarity is always a site where expressions of

resistance are latent. Many academics are locked within

the specificity of their field: that is a fact … the first

obstacle is often linked to individual competence, coupled

with a tendency to jealously protect one’s own domains.

Specialists are often too protective of their own

prerogatives, do not actually work with other colleagues,

and therefore do not teach their students to construct a

diagonal axis in their methodology.

(Kristeva 1997: 5-6)

Interdisciplinarity is always a site where expressions of

resistance are latent. Many academics are locked within

the specificity of their field: that is a fact … the first

obstacle is often linked to individual competence, coupled

with a tendency to jealously protect one’s own domains.

Specialists are often too protective of their own

prerogatives, do not actually work with other colleagues,

and therefore do not teach their students to construct a

diagonal axis in their methodology.

(Kristeva 1997: 5-6)


Disciplinary positions:

Costume is ‘the clothes worn in films, whether period or

contemporary dress’ (Church Gibson 1998: 36).

Fashion is ‘the cultural construction of the embodied

identity [that] embraces all forms of self-fashioning—

from street styles like punk and hip hop to body

alterations such as tattooing and piercing’ (Steele

1997: 1).


Several years ago I wrote an article entitled ‘The F-Word’,

which described the place of fashion within academia. It was

not a pretty picture: Fashion was regarded as frivolous,

sexist, bourgeois, ‘material’ (not intellectual) and, therefore,

beneath contempt.

(Steele 1997: 1)


A conception of clothes as disguise infuses not only

Romantic literature but allegory and the whole vocabulary of

metaphor itself. Nothing is more common than the

metaphorical mention of clothing, first of all to indicate a

simple screen that hides the truth or, more subtly, a

distracting display that demands attention but confounds

true perception.

(Hollander 1975: 445)

A conception of clothes as disguise infuses not only

Romantic literature but allegory and the whole vocabulary of

metaphor itself. Nothing is more common than the

metaphorical mention of clothing, first of all to indicate a

simple screen that hides the truth or, more subtly, a

distracting display that demands attention but confounds

true perception.

(Hollander 1975: 445)

A Manifesto on Costume Cultures

Fashion is in denial of its theatricality.

Costume is a conscious act of othering appearance.

The hug of a costume affects both the wearer and the worn.

The act of costuming scores an individual’s participation within an

liminal event or behaviour.

If performing is ‘showing doing’, then costume is

‘showing dressing’.

Costume is subversive: in that the act of costuming exposes how

appearance is regulated.

Thank you

www.rachelhann.com

Presentations & Public Speaking

What is ‘critical’ about costume