CMU School of Drama


Saturday, January 22, 2011

Costumer Theoni V. Aldredge Dies at 88

Backstage: "She was born on Aug. 22, 1922, as Theoni Athanasiou Vachlioti, in Salonika, Greece. Her father, Athanasios, was an army general and politician. Her mother, Meropi, died when she was 5 years old. She studied at the American School in Athens. Her father encouraged his grown daughter to travel, and she immigrated to the United States in 1949 to attend Chicago's Goodman Theatre on a scholarship. In New York, on her way to Chicago, she saw the 1946 film version of 'Caesar and Cleopatra' and was inspired to become a costume designer.

1 comment:

Madeline M. said...

This is a sad lose in my eyes, however I feel that when a creator reaches a point in their life in which they cannot create anymore, they are no longer alive - therefore, I'm sure it was her time. I remember when I first became interested in costume design and I was doing research about the 1920's and a friend lent me 'The Great Gatsby'. Her use of color and 20's glamour both amazed me and provided me with a wonderful historic reference on the fashion of that era. Similarly, her work on "La Cage aux Folles" is unbelievable and opened my eyes to the concept of drag costumes as an art.