Academy Lines Up Period
Costumes for Fall Exhibition

Beverly Hills, CA — Thirty-six iconic motion picture costumes, including Oscar® nominated designs created for Meryl Streep in “Out of Africa,” Gwyneth Paltrow in “Emma,” Nicole Kidman in “The Portrait of a Lady” and Cate Blanchett in “Elizabeth,” will be presented in the new exhibition, “Period Costumes for the Screen: From the Collection of Cosprop, London,” opening on Friday, October 19, in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Fourth Floor Gallery in Beverly Hills. Admission is free.

“Period Costumes for the Screen” will highlight the collaboration between motion picture costume designers – including Milena Canonero, Ruth Myers, Janet Patterson and Alexandra Byrne, each of whose creations are mentioned above – and costume houses by featuring an impressive sampling from Great Britain’s Cosprop. Costume houses such as Cosprop provide offices, research facilities, historic and modern costume stock, and expert manufacturing facilities, thereby acting as the creative hub of the costume design community.

Showcasing dozens of costumes, photo murals and film clips that put the costumes into their cinematic context, the exhibition will highlight designs created for motion pictures set in the 16th through mid-20th centuries. While period authenticity can contribute greatly to the believability of a story, the first creative challenge is for the costumes to fit the overall design of the film.

Founded in 1965 by costume designer John Bright, Cosprop was intimately involved in the creation of Bright’s and Jenny Beavan’s Academy Award®-nominated designs for “Sense and Sensibility” as well as their Oscar-winning efforts on “A Room with a View.” Cosprop also collaborated with three-time Academy Award winner James Acheson on his Oscar-winning designs for “Dangerous Liaisons,” and also contributed to Deborah L. Scott’s Oscar-winning designs for “Titanic.”

This exhibition is organized by the Trust for Museum Exhibitions, Washington, D.C., in cooperation with Cosprop Ltd., London, England.

“Period Costumes for the Screen: From the Collection of Cosprop, London” will be on display through Sunday, December 16. The Academy’s galleries, located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, are open Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends, noon to 6 p.m. The Academy will be closed during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend – Thursday, November 22 through Sunday, November 25. For more information call (310) 247-3600 or visit www.oscars.org.

Editors: Please note that downloadable images are available at http://photos.oscars.org.

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Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
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