Irene Sharaff


Irene Sharaff was an American costume designer for stage and screen. Her accolades include 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

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 created a trend in fashion and interior decoration.
Sharaff's work was featured in the movies West Side Story, Cleopatra, Meet Me in St. Louis, Hello, Dolly!, Mommie Dearest, The [Other Side of Midnight (film)|The Other Side of Midnight], Virginia Woolf? (film)|Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?], Guys and Dolls, The Best Years of Our Lives, The [King and I (1956 film)|The King and I], An [American in Paris (film)|An American in Paris], 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 (musical)|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.

Death

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

Filmography

Awards and nominations

;Other recognition