A Streetcar Named Desire (2009)
By Tennessee Williams
Directed by Liv Ullman
Costume design by Tess Schofield
Worn by Cate Blanchett

Made by Mary Anne Lawler

Costume: Silk linen suit, silk chiffon shirt

In 2009, STC presented a legendary production of Tennessee Williams' classic A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by veteran actor, director, and author Liv Ullman, and featuring then Artistic Director Cate Blanchett as fading Southern belle Blanche DuBois.

The design for Ullman’s production was heavily influenced by the works of American realist painter Edward Hopper.

Blanche arrives on stage in a travelling suit. Williams' stage direction for the scene describes her this way:

She is daintily dressed in a white suit – with a fluffy bodice, necklace and earrings of pearl, white gloves and hat, looking as if she were arriving at a summer tea or cocktail party in the garden district. […] There is something about her uncertain manner, as well as her white clothes, that suggests a moth.

To bring to life Williams’ moth, costume designer Tess Schofield designer this gorgeous linen suit, complete with a sunray pleat, that was then tailor-made for Blanchett for Blanchett by STC costumier Mary Anne Lawler.

Mary Anne Lawler: "[Tess Schofield] wanted it pleated, but because it's not a natural fibre, these little pleats would have fallen out. So, it was a matter of getting it pressed to a sunray, and then sewing in where the folds are to keep the pleats pressed in."

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