During the film awards season in early 2020, costume designer Sandy Powell wore a cream calicotoile (a tailor's mock-up) two-piece suit of her own design, and collected celebrities' autographs on it in permanent marker. The suit was then auctioned to raise funds for the purchase of artist, filmmaker and gay rights activist Derek Jarman's cottageatDungenessinKent, England. The suit was bought by Edwina Dunn, who then donated it to the Theatre and Performance Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London.[1] In April 2022 the suit featured in an episode of the BBC Two series Secrets of the Museum.[2]
In 1985 artist, filmmaker and gay rights activist Derek Jarman gave Sandy Powell her first job in the film industry, as the costume designer for his film Caravaggio.[3] The year Caravaggio was released, Jarman was diagnosed with HIV. Shortly afterwards, he moved into Prospect Cottage, a Victorian fisherman's cottage on the shingle beach at DungenessinKent, in the shadow of Dungeness Nuclear Power Station. Jarman died in 1994, and the cottage was bequeathed to his partner Keith Collins. The house was put up for sale in 2018 after Collins' death,[4] its interior still containing Jarman's belongings, art and materials, and artwork by Jarman's friends and admirers, including Maggi Hambling, John Maybury, Gus Van Sant and Richard Hamilton.[5]
In January 2020, with Prospect Cottage at risk of being sold privately and its contents dispersed, the Art Fund began a fundraising drive to secure the cottage's future.[6] To help with this, Powell decided to collect celebrities' signatures on a suit toile she had designed (getting the signatures while wearing it), and then auction the suit. As Powell was to be awarded the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film at the Critics' Circle awards,[7] and was nominated for Best Costume Design for The Irishman at both the BAFTAs[8] and the Oscars,[9] she had plenty of opportunity to collect autographs at the coming awards ceremonies.
The two-piece suit (jacket and trousers) is a toile, a tailor's mock-up to test a design before expensive material is committed. The toile is the toile for the suits that Powell wore to the 2017 and 2019 Oscars and BAFTAS.[10] The toile is made of cream calico with rough stitching, with the jacket fixed by two large safety pins. It was deliberately chosen to be a "blank canvas" on which to collect signatures.[11] Over a six-week period during the 2020 film awards season, Powell attended The Critics' Circleawards ceremony on 30 January 2020,[6][7] the 2020 BAFTAs award show on 2 February 2020[12] and the 2020 Oscars ceremony on 9 February 2020,[13] plus other events, and collected over 200 signatures on the suit.[1] Powell noted that some people chose where to sign, while others were told, with "only girls on the bum".[3]
The suit was auctioned online between 4 and 11 March 2020 by Phillips Auction House, after being displayed in the foyer of its gallery in Berkeley Square, London, along with four handwritten keys identifying almost all the signatures on the various parts of the suit.[14][15] The suit sold for £16,000.[6] It was purchased by Edwina Dunn, who then donated it to the V&A Museum, on behalf of The Female Lead, an educational charity that drives change and equality for women.[11][1] The suit underwent conservation cleaning at the museum, and Powell visited the museum
to help choose the mannequin on which it was to be displayed. Powell's handwritten keys were to be mounted alongside the suit in the gallery when it was to go on display.[3] The suit was placed on display in April 2022 in Room 104 of the V&A's Theatre & Performance galleries.[16][11]
The campaign to save Prospect Cottage was a success, and it will host residencies for artists, academics and gardeners.[3]
By the time of its auction there were over 200 signatures on the suit.[17][18] Powell noted in the 2022 television programme Secrets of the Museum that some of the signatures had yet to be identified. Those who signed it include:[19]
^Other references (4 March Art Fund article) give the number at 100, but the list at the end of 4 March Art Fund article contains 190 names. It seems the body of the text had not been updated.
^Names listed here are taken from the 4 March 2020 Art Fund article unless otherwise stated.
^Peter Fillingham is a sculptor. He made the wooden inscription of John Donne's poem "The Sun Rising" on the side of Prospect Cottage for Derek Jarman: https://www.instagram.com/p/B9pf_FcFg2d/
