Last week the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts opened the first-ever major retrospective exhibition on the Korean-American costume designer Willa Kim. Kim, who passed away at age 99 in 2016, was the recipient of two Tony Awards for Best Costume Design (for The Will Rogers Follies and Sophisticated Ladies) and was nominated a further four times over her seventy-year career. She is also one of the only costume designers who has been inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. The Wondrous Willa Kim: Costume Designs for Actors and Dancers was curated by Bobbi Owen, a costume design historian who is the author of the only monograph of Kim’s work, The Designs of Willa Kim (2005).
In the world of theatre design, Willa Kim pioneered the use of synthetic stretch materials, and related dyeing techniques, that facilitated the movement of performers. She would not design costumes for actors or dancers without first watching them move in rehearsal, so that her costumes both fit and moved in harmony with their bodies. Her frequent colleague, the designer Tony Walton, commented that "You can see in her work how everything flows and moves exactly as it might in relation to the dance movement." Richard Philp, editor of Dance Magazine from 1989 to 1999, observed: "... the originality and beauty of her designs are the real hallmarks of her work in both theatre and dance."
An overview of Willa’s long career can be found in her NYT obituary. She had been married to William Pène du Bois, a children’s book illustrator and of the founders of The Paris Review—after her death they published a rather lovely piece with some wonderful photos of Kim in her Upper West Side apartment, an artistic space where every element is evocative of her creative vision and career.
As Kim’s paper archive is now part of the NYPL’s Billy Rose collection, the exhibition brings together sketches and costumes from across her career, from ballet to Broadway to TV. Filling one large room (the Vincent Astor Gallery), it is a relatively compact retrospective—the costumes are so wonderful that I wish the show was triple the size. The opportunity to see her work should not be missed—it is on through August 19, 2023.
Below are some of my favourite items on view. As my photos of the sketches were full of shadows and glare, I have pulled images of those sketches from the NYPL archive where I could find them.
Regina Wine Vinegar Superbowl Commercial, 1988
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