In the Studio With Jack Edwards
Jack Edwards served as the costume director at the Guthrie Theatre from 1971 to 1989.
Image credit: Kelsey Johnston
Jack Edwards served as the costume director at the Guthrie Theatre from 1971 to 1989. You can also thank him for all those wonderful animated fairy tales that used to feature at Dayton’s every year at Christmas time, which Edwards described as “a Christmas gift to the city of Minneapolis”.
His retrospective, Character in Costume, opens at the University of Minnesota’s Goldstein Museum of Design on Friday, Jan. 20. The exhibit continues through May 20.
PHOTOS: IN THE STUDIO WITH JACK EDWARDS
Kelsey Johnston recently caught up with Edwards to talk about his roots, what it means to see his designs come to fruition and what it was like to be in a design program alone.
Kelsey: Where are you from Jack?
Jack Edwards: I was born in Pennsylvania. I went from Pennsylvania to Manhattan, from Manhattan to Hollywood, from Hollywood to Minnesota, and then back to Manhattan and back to Minnesota.
How long were you in Hollywood?
Just a year. I hated it. I was working with Ray Aghayan and Bob Mackie.
Why did you hate it?
The people are so artificial and there’s no such thing as truth. Nobody would tell you the truth.
Can you tell me about the process of seeing your designs come to life?
I’ve been fortunate because I’ve always have had wonderful craftsmen working with me. There was almost nothing I could ask them to do that they couldn’t do. Since I was at the theatre so long I would always try to put something into the design that we had not done before so it would be a learning process. I believed in getting as close to the reality at the time as possible.
I think clothes are all about movement. A piece of cloth with a seam in it moves differently than a piece of cloth without a seam in it. So, if we were working with a period where the looms were only 18 inches wide well, today you can make 60-inch fabric and why would you cut it up into 18-inchpieces and sew it back up again? People would think that was ridiculous but no, it makes all the difference. There was a certain period where women couldn’t raise their arms above their shoulders and of course the director would argue and want her to wave or whatever the case.
So you’d have these conflicts often?
No, not too often but, the director is god so they always won.
Who or what have been your favorite inspirations?
Well, I’ve been fortunate because I’ve worked with people that I’ve admired for long periods of time. I was Cecil Beaton’s assistant on Coco and met John Gielgud who was the director of Richard Burton’s Hamlet. I would say that almost all of the designers that I’ve worked with have an individual design personality and also to put myself in their shoes whether you work as their assistant.
What are some of the bigger challenges you’ve come across?
The Music Man for the Ordway. The director gave no instructions whatsoever and said, ‘Go ahead do what you want.’ Then of course, she didn’t like some of the things I did. There wasn’t enough money, there never is. She had a connection with Brooks Vanhorn in New York but by then Brooks Vanhorn had kind of taken a dive. The clothes were appalling and since I had agreed to it I couldn’t say, “No, I want to go to another costume house.” We had to make it work the best we could but it was painful to go to work every day.
What fictional character (that you’ve designed for) do you most relate to? And why?
Oh dear. Well, I think it would have to be one of Noël Coward’s characters because they are all so flippant.
What was your childhood dream career?
I was very confused and, this sounds very egocentric and I don’t mean it to be, but I had too much talent in different directions. I had a natural singing voice after my voice changed I would sing solos in church and I was going to be a singer and had taken lessons and that sort of thing. So, that was the early part of it. I had gone to college for acting and directing and I always said I had a minor in design. The design minor was me – there was no department for design so I just designated myself as a minor in design. Then it just came to what it was but, I was still thinking about acting or directing but all the jobs I got were in the art field in one shape or form so, I just figured why beat a dead horse when you’ve got one that’s still walking?
+ Kelsey Johnston has visited the studios of several talented Twin Cities artists. See more of her work at johnstoninthestudio.com.
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