{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O101969"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O101969/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O101969","accessionNumber":"S.18:1/2-2004","objectType":"Theatre costume","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Historical costume on stage is never an 'authentic' reproduction; theatre designers adapt historical dress to make it acceptable to a contemporary theatre audience.  Thus the fabrics, cut and style of a theatre costume are at once recognisable as historical period and yet bear the signs of the age in which the production is being staged.  If the play was produced twenty years before or twenty years later, the costumes would be treated quite differently.  \r\nThis costume was designed in 1981 for a production of Iain Hamilton's opera Anna Karenina for English National Opera.  The setting is late 19th century Russia, and the designer, Annena Stubbs, follows the silhouette of fashionable dress of the period, but executed in fabrics that could only belong to the early 1980s.  There is an eclectic mix of the fabrics and colours, the basic plush material being in the unusual mix of grey, gold and chestnut highlighted by the use of reddish brown shot silk.  \r\nTheatrical costumes are designed to subtly indicate character, and such a flamboyant costume is in keeping with the character of Princess Betsy Tverskoy, who is at the heart of the social whirl of balls and dinner parties which are an important element in the plot.","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Stubbs, Annena","id":"A13201"},"association":{"text":"costume designer","id":"AAT163428"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Opera","id":"THES263971"},{"text":"Theatre costume","id":"THES268477"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"none","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES366771"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES366815"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"bodices","id":"AAT209874"}],[{"text":"Theatre costume","id":""}],[{"text":"Opera costume","id":""}],[{"text":"Skirt","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1981","earliest":"1981-01-01","latest":"1981-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Weight","value":"0.6","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Weight, top","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"2.3","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Weight, skirt","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"53","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Top, width","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"56","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Skirt, width","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"69","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Top, length","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"126","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Skirt, length","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Costume designed by Annena Stubbs for Betsy, Elizavyeta Fiodorovna Tverskoya, in Iain Hamilton's opera Anna Karenina, English National Opera, 1981.\n\nHistorical significance: A theatrical period costume showing how historical dress is adapted by subsequent generations of designers to make them acceptable to the eyes of a later theatre audience.  Thus the fabrics and the cut of the costume proclaim them to be of the time in which the opera is set and also of 1980, when it was performed.  A costume designed and made for the same work a decade later would equally be identifiable as 19th century and 1990.\r\nThe costume also reflects English Nationa Opera's policy of encouraging new operas, of which Anna Karenina by Iain Hamilton was one.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Costume designed by Annena Stubbs for Betsy, Elizavyeta Fiodorovna Tverskoya, in Iain Hamilton's opera Anna Karenina, English National Opera, 1981.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.18:1-2004","S.18:2-2004"],"accessionNumberNum":"18","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2004,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Theatre costume [1]","Theatre costume [2]"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-15","recordCreationDate":"2004-07-28","availableToBook":true}}