CINCINNATI, OH.-The Taft Museum of Art presents today Fashion in Film, on view through April 26, 2009. Oscar season will be in full swing at the Taft Museum of Art this year when Fashion in Film: Period Costumes for the Screen opens. This will be the only regional showing of this exhibition, which has been setting records and charming visitors around the country.

The sumptuous costumes span four centuries of clothing design and four decades of filmmaking, with the represented films, including Titanic, Evita, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Ever After. This exhibition, organized by the Trust for Museum Exhibitions, Washington, D.C., in cooperation with Cosprop, Ltd., London, England, features costumes worn by Cate Blanchett, Julie Christie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, and many others.

Films set in the past require the creation of historically accurate, often lavish costumes. Such costumes play a critical role in the aesthetics and power of the character by suggesting not only the historical setting but also the personality, age, class and status of their wearers. Over the last few decades, specialized costumers have created magnificent examples for leading filmmakers such as Franco Zeffirelli, Ang Lee and Robert Altman. Many of these original costumes are preserved in the collection of the London costume house, Cosprop, Ltd. This exhibition includes 36 costumes from films such as Evita, Titanic, Ever After and Sense and Sensibility, among many others.

Evoking the Renaissance through the mid-20th century, the 36 costumes perfectly complement garments worn by sitters and other figures in paintings in the Taft’s permanent collection. This exhibition is curated by Nancy Huth, the Taft’s curator of education.

This exhibition, organized by the Trust for Museum Exhibitions, Washington, D.C., in cooperation with Cosprop, Ltd., London, England, features extravagant costumes that span four centuries of clothing design and four decades of filmmaking.