HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA.- The Huntsville Museum of Art presents Fashion in Film: Period Costumes for the Screen through January 23, 2005. The elegance of Hollywood comes to the Museum this fall with the exhibition Fashion in Film: Period Costumes for the Screen. Movie lovers won’t want to miss this opportunity to see 35 costumes from recent major motion pictures including Titanic, Evita, Out of Africa, Pride and Prejudice, and Gosford Park. These costumes were created for films by award-winning directors and filmmakers, and elegantly worn by such actors and actresses as Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Meryl Streep, and Elizabeth Taylor.

The high quality and authenticity of the costumes reflects the height of the dramatic period films of recent years. This exquisite selection of costumes comes from a stock of nearly 100,000 costumes and accessories made by the renowned British costumer, Cosprop.
Having mostly been made for film adaptations of classical novels, the costumes in this exhibition closely follow original models in the cut and materials used. Their high quality and authenticity derive from the period-drama-in-films made in recent years.

The costumes demonstrate the development of fashion from about 1750 to 1960. Lavishly embroidered suits and elaborate dresses from Dangerous Liaisons and Jefferson in Paris, both taking place in pre-revolutionary Paris, show the sumptuous and colorful fashion of the period around 1785. Fashion greatly changed after the French Revolution. Dresses from the film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility show the plainness and freedom of fashion at the beginning of the 19th century. This simplicity did not last long. In The Portrait of a Lady, starring Nicole Kidman and based in the 1870s, dresses are tight and constricting. The materials are heavy and dark in color. The costumes will be displayed on mannequins and accompanied with stills from the films.