Museum Masterworks The Importance of Being Earnest

This class introduces costume design as a tool for interpreting renowned masterworks and as an intrinsic element of art history. Within the structure of the syllabus, costume designers will investigate four drawing-room plays by Oscar Wilde: Lady Windemere’ s Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). Students will examine research materials at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library and produce 10 sketches based on one of the four Wilde plays, informed by their historical research, accompanied by a mood board, a 350+ word Design Brief for one of Oscar Wilde’s plays. One costume design will be selected for construction at half-scale during Spring Quarter.