History
In its earliest form, costumes consisted of theatrical prop masks from the time of the ancient Greeks. Costume design evolved as the need for more elaborate and detailed characterizations were needed as the performances became more intricate and more complex characters began to emerge on stage. Defining each character separately allowing the audience the ability to follow a storyline with a conceptualised look defined prior to a performance was, and is needed as part of preproduction preparations.
Early performers were generally male, therefore costuming was needed for gender disguise so as to create the illusion of the opposite sex. In Asia, the men would dress up as women. Costuming also helps create other character building imagery such as age. The leading characters will have more detail and design to make them stand out and relate a sense of trust to the audience. Styles and technique has changed over the centuries but have maintained basic principles of clothing design yet geared towards pushing the characters traits out in its appearance. The designer meets the cast, measuring each performer and making certain that the costumes will be appropriate for each individual.
Read more about this topic: Costume Design
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“To care for the quarrels of the past, to identify oneself passionately with a cause that became, politically speaking, a losing cause with the birth of the modern world, is to experience a kind of straining against reality, a rebellious nonconformity that, again, is rare in America, where children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
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—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“... in America ... children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)