Irene Sharaff
Born(1910-01-23)January 23, 1910
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedAugust 16, 1993(1993-08-16) (aged 83)
New York City, U.S.
Alma materNew York School of Fine and Applied Arts
Académie de la Grande Chaumière
PartnerMai-Mai Sze

Irene Sharaff (January 23, 1910 – August 16, 1993) was an American costume designer for stage and screen. Her work earned her five Academy Awards and a Tony Award. Sharaff is universally recognized as one of the greatest costume designers of all time.

Background

Sharaff was born in Boston to parents of Armenian descent. She studied at the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, the Art Students League of New York, and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris.

Career

Design for Barbra Streisand in Hello, Dolly! (1969)

After working as a fashion illustrator in her youth, Sharaff turned to set and costume design. Her debut production was the 1931 Broadway production of Alice in Wonderland, starring Eva Le Gallienne. Her use of silks from Thailand for The King and I (1951) created a trend in fashion and interior decoration.[1]

Sharaff's work was featured in the movies West Side Story (Academy Award, 1961), Cleopatra (Academy Award, 1963), Meet Me in St. Louis, Hello, Dolly!, Mommie Dearest, The Other Side of Midnight, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Academy Award, 1966), Guys and Dolls, The Best Years of Our Lives, The King and I (Academy Award, 1956), An American in Paris (Academy Award, 1951), Funny Girl and Porgy and Bess.

She also designed sets and costumes for American Ballet Theatre, the New York City Ballet, and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and contributed illustrations to fashion magazine's such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Among her Broadway design credits are Idiot's Delight, Lady in the Dark, As Thousands Cheer, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Virginia, Flower Drum Song, and Jerome Robbins' Broadway.

The TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award was named for Sharaff. She was its first recipient in 1993. The award is now bestowed annually to a costume designer who, over the course of his or her career, has achieved great distinction and mastery of the art in theatre, film, opera or dance.[2][3]

Death

Sharaff died in New York City of congestive heart failure, complicated by emphysema, at the age of 83.[1] She bequeathed her collection of books, along with that of her partner, Mai-Mai Sze, to the New York Society Library.[4]

Filmography

Royal robe designed for Yul Brynner in The King and I, for which Sharaff won an Oscar.
Headdress for Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra, which won another Oscar for Sharaff.

Awards and nominations

Association Year Category Work Result Ref.
Academy Awards 1951 Best Costume Design, Color An American in Paris Won
1953 Call Me Madam Nominated
1954 Brigadoon Nominated
Best Art Direction, Color A Star Is Born Nominated
Best Costume Design, Color Nominated
1955 Guys and Dolls Nominated
1956 The King and I Won
1959 Porgy and Bess Nominated
1960 Can-Can Nominated
1961 West Side Story Won
Flower Drum Song Nominated
1963 Cleopatra Won
1966 Best Costume Design, Black-and-White Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Won
1967 Best Costume Design The Taming of the Shrew Nominated
1969 Hello, Dolly! Nominated
1977 The Other Side of Midnight Nominated
British Academy Film Awards 1969 Best Costume Design Funny Girl Nominated
Tony Awards 1952 Best Costume Design The King and I Won
1957 Candide
Happy Hunting
Shangri-La
Small War on Murray Hill		 Nominated
1958 West Side Story Nominated
1959 Flower Drum Song Nominated
1964 The Girl Who Came to Supper Nominated
1966 Sweet Charity Nominated
1968 Hallelujah, Baby! Nominated

References

  1. 1 2 Howe, Marvine. "Irene Sharaff, Designer, 83, Dies; Costumes Won Tony and Oscars". The New York Times, August 17, 1993
  2. ↑ Hetrick, Adam.Irene Sharaff Awards to Honor Robin Wagner and Lewis Brown" Archived February 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine playbill.com, February 22, 2011
  3. ↑ Sharaff Award Archived December 18, 2010, at the Wayback Machine tdf.org, accessed February 22, 2011
  4. ↑ "Sharaff-Sze Collection | New York Society Library". Nysoclib.org. Retrieved November 2, 2016.

Bibliography

  • Sharaff, Irene. Broadway and Hollywood: Costumes Designed by Irene Sharaff, Van Nostrand Reinhold Co (1976)
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