Lucinda Ballard was a costume designer from New Orleans. She was born in 1906 and died in 1993.
Her first ever job was to paint the ceiling and some walls of the New Congregational Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She painted the last supper and it took 6 months to do.
Photo of Lucinda painting
Her first major show was 'Show Boat Revival' in 1946.
Costume designs for musicals around this time were credited on the sheet music for the show.
Images from Show Boat
The costumes were in shades of green and white and black. The middle left picture is a sketch of a dancer. The costumes were built for movement. The dress on the far right of the middle right picture is said to be Lucinda's favorite dress. The bodice had a lace effect made from embroidering on velvet. The costume budget was $125,000 which is Lucinda's biggest ever budget.
In the same year, Lucinda did another show called 'Annie get your Gun'.
She made the costumes out of white leather embroidered with velvet. The costume above was made from red flannel with a beige fringe.
Lucinda had to make the costumes twice as she found out that the actress didn't like air conditioning so wanted to act the whole thing under the heat of the lights. Lucinda had to re-make the costumes to withstand the heat.
She worked with Rogers and Hammerstein company.
She constantly ran into arguments with Morris Jacobs the production manager. One day he came into the workshop and Lucinda was breaking down expensive lace, he asked her 'why not buy cheap lace and then break it down?' She replied by saying that cheap lace broken down still looks cheap, however expensive lace broken down looks expensive.
In 1947, she worked on a production of 'Allegro'
In 1959, she worked on a production of 'The Sound of Music'.
She designed the clothes for the Von Trapp family as the leading lady at the time always used to choose her own designer. The designer she chose, however, wasn't wonderful so Lucinda had to salvage many of the dresses.
The last show she did in New York was 'the Gay Life' in 1961. She had a budget of $70,000 to make 330 period costumes. She made basic costumes and switched the trimming around to make them different.
The dress on the right was made from 300 yards of ruffled tulle.
This was the only show she did with her husband Howard Dietz.
She worked with Tennessee Williams. She initially turned down doing 'A Streetcar Named Desire', but when she read the description of Blanche she changed her mind.
She also worked with a young Marlon Brando, who was so impressed with her kindness and the way she handled situations, that he trusted her for many years.
She worked on Streetcar in 1947. The blue jeans that Marlon wore became the most famous costume in the production. Looking at jeans worn by the work men of the time, she saw that they held generations of grease and clung to the body. To create this effect, she washed several pairs of jeans 10 times. She then took a wet pair to a tailor and asked them to tailor them while they were wet. She used to have to stop Marlon taking the jeans and the t-shirts home with him.
She was very good at convincing Williams that his costume ideas wouldn't work. Originally he had Blanche wearing a straight jacket in the last scene. Lucinda said that she will quit if she has to dress Blanche in that and suggested that she was dressed in a hooded cape instead.
These costumes have become part of the fabric of the play.
She took the designs and put them in the film. The only character she re-designed for, was the only one where the actress was replaced. Vivienne Leigh replaced the original actress as Blanche and her and Lucinda became fast friends.
Images from 'A Streetcar Named Desire'
Lucinda held a good relationship with her actors and like to discuss their costumes with them so that they were happy.
She is quoted saying that she can easily draw 40 sketches, but developing designs is the hard part.
Her last design role was in 1985 where she designed a revival of 'Night of the Iguana'.
It was really nice to have a look at some of Lucinda's work and get a feel for what it was like to work in the 1950s/60s. She was a great designer as well has a wonderful person. She mothered Williams through many crises and fixed many disasters that popped up along the way. She was a true inspiration both then and now.
All images are from a slide show put together by the presenter.
