COSTUME @ The Kilkenny Arts Festival

I took a trip down to the Kilkenny Arts Festival yesterday to take in a bitta culture! We'd booked tickets to see Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, performed by an all-female cast from the Globe Theatre in London. It was fantastic and although the tickets are all sold out, if you can manage to get your hands on one I would definitely recommend going.

Arriving long before the start of the evening showing we were able to take in some of the other stuff the Festival had to offer and I was blown away by their COSTUME event - "two exhibitions exploring fashion, craft and the theatrical, both on stage and on the catwalk." While the play may be sold out, this event runs 'til 16 October in the National Craft Gallery. If you're heading out Kilkenny way, I would highly recommend a mosey! 

Exhibition 1: Future Fashion - "innovators of fashion and sculpture for the body"

I loved all of this, especially this first designer's work:

Úna Burke

 

  

(anyone else put in mind of this?)

Marloes ten Bhömer

Andreia Chaves

Stephanie Bila

  

Julia Lundsten

Ana Rajcevic  

Whose headpieces even Isabella Blow may have had trouble wearing! Follow the link to see exactly you would go about doing that.

    

Exhibition 2: Behind the Scenes - shining "a light on the undergarment, a hidden but critical part of any costume and beautiful objects in their own right"

This was an interesting display of theatre undergarments, the foundation on which the costume we see on stage is built. Corsets are fairly standard...

But what about a duvet skirt to give both volume and a clean line?

...And you certainly wouldn't expect to see bird seed chicken fillets on display! - used to lend sagginess to an old woman character!

There was also a fat-man costume... 

 ...And the more traditional underwear you would expect from period pieces, all exquisitely made to the actor's exact size of course.

All images my own except this one and this one.