FROCKS, TALES AND TEA : A LOOK INSIDE THE WORLD OF COSTUME GREAT JENNIFER IRWIN

 

The latest talk presented by Useful Box for sewists and textile fans was held at the exclusive elegant Boronia Tea Rooms at Mosman. Jennifer Irwin was the fascinating guest speaker who has us all enthralled.

Irwin is the recipient of the 2017 Australian Dance Award for Services to Dance. She is perhaps best known for her work designing for Bangarra Dance Company, Opera Australia and Sydney Dance Company.

Her career spans 36 years designing for drama, opera, dance & ballet as well as the largest spectacular events ever staged in Australia -the opening and closing of the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the official ceremony commemorating the FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIA 2001.

Irwin was nominated for Best Costume Design 2016 AACTA Awards for her work on SPEAR the feature film with Bangarra .Irwin also designed the costumes for Dirty Dancing, the musical, still playing to packed audiences worldwide after 16 years.

Costume commissions in Australia include 36 ballets for SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY, 26 years worth of repertoire for BANGARRA DANCE THEATRE, multiple works for SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY, THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET, MELBOURNE THEATRE COMPANY, BELVOIR, ROYAL NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIAN DANCE THEATRE, WEST AUSTRALIAN BALLET, QUEENSLAND BALLET & OPERA AUSTRALIA .Phew! Films she has been involved in include The Matrix, Mission Impossible II, Red Planet, Looking for Natalie Wood, Strictly Ballroom and Romeo and Juliet..

In 1984 Irwin was awarded a Theatre Board Grant to study at La Scala Opera,Milan ,Italy. In 2001 she was awarded a Centenary Medal for service to the community and she has been nominated for 10 Green Room and 2 Helpmann Awards.

The Tea Rooms were set up with some of Irwin’s costume designs (for Bangarra , for Opera Australia’s The Merry Widow and Giselle for the Universal Ballet of Korea for example) and a few of the actual costumes for a couple of the shows ( eg a grey one of ‘leaves’ for Bangarra , that at one point was passed around the audience).

There was a TV monitor which had a display of assorted photos of various productions and Irwn at times used this as a reference point to talk about the challenges of designing and creating a costume that can be worn on stage eight times a week, that usually can withstand necessary laundering, cope with vigorous movement, flows and does not hinder the dancer’s movements, can handle serious sweating and heavy make-up; (and lots of ochre for Bangarra!) and appear to be sumptuously glamorous up to 200 metres away.

The differences between designing for stage and  film were discussed ( eg Strictly Ballroom vs the Opera vs Dirty Dancing). Is the fabric stretchy if required? Too light/too heavy? Does it need to be discreetly weighted to fall a particular way? Different fabrics would be used for different jobs and Irwin talked a bit about one particular costume for Bangarra where she used a computer scanner to create the holey effect. How lighting and stage effects can change the look of a costume was also mentioned : dance is often lit from the side whereas straight drama generally lit from above.

Irwin talked about how she became a costume designer, starting off in the wardrobe department of Sydney Dance Company, and her long time collaboration with Graeme Murphy and Janet Vernon and also Steven Page of Bangarra as well as collaborations with other creative teams.

For dance especially, Irwin has to be aware of the difference between various companies and how some have huge teams of cutters , seamstresses etc ( for example Opera Australia) while others are more casual and ‘freer’ in their approach, such as Bangarra. For Bangarra, when designing costumes, Irwin reminded us that sometimes she has to be extremely aware of sensitive cultural issues with colours , designs etc.

The problems of being a freelance designer and struggling in the industry were raised. Irwin said she always tries to make at least one costume per production herself.
Irwin admitted she has so much fabric at home.Interestingly she reflected that her work has apparently become more sculptural in the past couple of years.

This was a fascinating riveting talk. Before then talk, emceed by Caroline Adams of Useful Box, wine was served. Afterwards,  guests mingled and were served a delicious afternoon tea of sandwiches enticing cakes and other liquid refreshments.

Running time roughly two hours.

FROCKS TALES AND TEA took place at the  Boronia Tea Rooms on the 14th October 2017. Boronia Tea Rooms is located at 624 Military Road, Mosman.