On Stage in Fashion

Mary Martin’s curtain-fabric dirndl from the Broadway production of “The Sound of Music” was meant to look homemade for a reason. In the show, the governess Maria, played by Martin, dresses the von Trapp children in clothing made from curtains.

But the dirndl, cut from a blue-and-white scrolled wool broadcloth, was the work of a notable 20th-century designer, Mainbocher, who designed some of Martin’s clothing on and off stage.

Broadway’s most famous dirndl is one of the most recognized garments in “On Stage in Fashion: Design for Theater, Opera and Dance,” an exhibition at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts that examines how costume design looks to fashion for inspiration.

In collaboration with the Museum of the City of New York, the library assembled several showrooms’ worth of original garments, photographs, memorabilia, sketches and videos that showcase what happens when the aspirational glamor of fashion meets the flesh-and-blood storytelling requirements of costume.

“What attracts the public to garments is the same as what attracts choreographers to garments: that they move well and are comfortable for the wearer,” explained Barbara Cohen-Stratyner, the library’s curator of exhibitions, during a walk-through of the exhibit.

Among the show’s 200 objects are about 50 garments for opera, ballet, dance and theater designed by some of the biggest names in fashion, including Chanel, Lanvin and Oscar de la Renta, as well as clothing made by influential names such as Sally Milgrim, Norman Norell and Bonnie Cashin, whose clothes live on even if their designers do not.

Although the “Sound of Music” dirndl is a beautifully-constructed garment, Ms. Cohen-Stratyner joked that it was something no real housekeeper could slap together. Being able to see it up close provides a view into the kind of painstakingly detailed work that not even the best binoculars could pick up.

“That curtain dress is probably the best-made dirndl of all time,” she said. “Every scroll matches perfectly. If you look at the seams, if you look at the center front, it’s an exquisite garment.”

The popularity of fashion designers working for theater has ebbed since the 1970s. But the opposite is true in the worlds of contemporary dance and opera.

“Couture design and high-end sportswear design are pretty spectacular,” said Ms. Cohen-Stratyner. “That’s what opera directors want. It takes a lot to fill the Met stage, especially on a single figure. It requires a scale of design that we associate with couture.”

On view are several costumes from the Met, including Christian Lacroix’s gown worn by Renée Fleming in the penitent scene in “Thaïs”; Miuccia Prada’s overcoat for the title character in “Attila”; and Isaac Mizrahi’s shredded silk-on-silk dress for “Orfeo ed Euridice,” directed by the choreographer Mark Morris.

“It looks like she has been through hell, which in fact she has,” Ms. Cohen Stratyner said of Mr. Mizrahi’s gown. “Nobody sees it as close and as three-dimensional as in this exhibition. Orpheus can’t even turn around and look at it.”