Intimate Apparel
BY LYNN NOTTAGE
Costume Studio, Fall 2021
Watercolor and Gouache Renderings
This story centers around lingerie-maker Esther in the year 1905. What I found so compelling was the imagery of hard/delicate in the piece, and wanted to highlight the resilience of staying soft through life’s challenges. I was particularly inspired by the work of Afro-Cuban American artist Harmonia Rosales, whose works, to quote her website, “[focus] on black female empowerment in Western culture”. Similarly, Nottage uses this play to tell the untold stories of Black women through history.