TDF To Celebrate 50 Years of the Costume Collection At April Benefit

TDF will celebrate 50 years of its exceptional Costume Collection with a glamorous party, Costumes & Cocktails, on Monday, April 7 at Tao Downtown (92 Ninth Avenue). The evening will also include the presentation of the 2025 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards, celebrating the accomplishments of the theatrical design community.

Three-time Tony® Award-winning Costume Designer Gregg Barnes will be honored with the TDF/Irene Sharaff Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design; costumes and textile designer Wilberth Gonzalez will receive the TDF/Kitty Leech Ascending Artist Award; milliner and artisan Arnold S. Levine, Inc. will receive the TDF/Irene Sharaff Artisan Award; and legendary scenic designer Robert Israel will be honored with the Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design. The awards presenters will be announced at a later date.

Barnes, this year’s recipient of the TDF/Irene Sharaff Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design, was the first designer to be honored with the TDF/Kitty Leech Ascending Artist Award (formerly the TDF/Irene Sharaff Young Master Award) in 1994.

Costumes & Cocktails will begin with a festive cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m., followed by the awards presentation, dinner, and dancing compliments of a live DJ. Guests will be treated to special pop-up performances, displays of the honorees’ celebrated work, an exhibit of some of the most prized and historic pieces from the TDF Costume Collection, and more. To salute the founding decade of the collection, the 1970’s, the evening’s theme is Disco Era.   

For ticket information, visit tdf.org/cocktails.

Stephen Cabral, Director of the TDF Costume Collection, said, "For 50 years, the TDF Costume Collection has been providing rentals to groups all over the country. From a community theatre in South Carolina to a high school in Pennsylvania, from an Equity theatre in Seattle to “Saturday Night Live” at 30 Rock, we are always here to help you dress your vision. As a proud member of the Collection staff for over 30 years, it is such a profound pleasure to honor this year’s extraordinary group of theatre artists with our annual tradition of the Irene Sharaff Awards, while also celebrating the history of the TDF Costume Collection and its enduring mission." 

“We couldn’t be more excited to celebrate the iconic work of this year’s Irene Sharaff awardees AND 50 incredible years of our signature Costume Collection in a way that only TDF could—with a costume party!” said Deeksha Gaur, TDF's Executive Director. “The artistry of our awardees and the history of making costumes accessible to not-for-profit theatres, high schools, and other venues across the country reflect the power of the visual aspects of theatre to excite and inspire, bringing us together. We’re thrilled to salute our honorees and the Collection in support of our ongoing mission to make the magic of theatre accessible for all.”

The awardees were selected by the TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards Voting Committee, which consists of leading members of the theatrical costume design community: Stephen Cabral (Chair), Dede Ayite, Gregg Barnes, Linda Cho, Traci DiGesu, Lana Fritz, Jess Goldstein, Rodney Gordon, Brian Hemesath, Allen Lee Hughes, Holly Hynes, Dan Lawson, Anna Louizos, Katherine Marshall, Mimi Maxmen, David Murin, Sally Ann Parsons, Scott Pask, Robert Perdziola, Alejo Vietti, Court Watson, and David Zinn.

Throughout her long and distinguished career, Costume Designer Irene Sharaff was known for her elegance and attention to detail. Ms. Sharaff was revered as a designer of enormous depth and intelligence, equally secure with both contemporary and period costumes. Her work exemplified the best of costume design. Such excellence is demonstrated by the honorees of this year's TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards.

ABOUT THE AWARDS:

The TDF/Irene Sharaff Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design (formerly the Lifetime Achievement Award in Costume Design) was first presented to the legendary Ms. Sharaff in 1993. It is bestowed annually to a Costume Designer who has achieved great distinction. The award is presented to a designer whose work embodies the qualities of excellence represented in Ms. Sharaff's lifework: a keen sense of color, a feeling for material and texture, an eye for shape and form, and a sure command of the craft. The awardee's achievement may stem from work for the theatre, opera, dance, film, or—as was true of Ms. Sharaff—from all of them together.

Previous winners of the TDF/Irene Sharaff Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design are Desmond Heeley (1994), Miles White (1996), Alvin Colt (1996), Patricia Zipprodt (1997), Jane Greenwood (1998), Willa Kim (1999), Ann Roth (2000), Freddy Wittop (2001), Theoni V. Aldredge (2002), Jose Varona (2003), Anthony Powell (2004), 

Florence Klotz (2005), Lester Polakov (2006), Bob Mackie (2007), Robert Fletcher (2008), William Ivey Long (2009), Albert Wolsky (2010), Lewis Brown (2011),  Carrie Robbins (2012), David Toser (2013), Deborah M. Dryden (2014), Jess Goldstein (2015), Susan Tsu (2016), Catherine Zuber (2017), Holly Hynes (2018), Susan Hilferty (2019), Fred Voelpel (2022), and Ann Hould-Ward (2024).

The Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design (formerly the Lifetime Achievement Award in Theatrical Design) honors its namesake and symbolizes Tobin's passion, respect, and esteem for the art of theatrical design. Recipients have achieved distinction in theatrical design and their work serves as an example of the beauty, feeling, and empathy that's created through true mastery of this art. 

The Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design was first presented in 2004 to acclaimed set and Costume Designer Tony Walton. The award has since been presented to Robert O'Hearn (2005), Franco Zeffirelli (2006), Santo Loquasto (2007), John Conklin (2008), Bob Crowley (2009), Ming Cho Lee (2010), Robin Wagner (2011), Lloyd Burlingame (2012), Desmond Heeley (2013), Marjorie Bradley Kellogg (2014), Douglas W. Schmidt (2015), Michael Yeargan (2016), Tony Straiges (2017), Zack Brown (2018), John Lee Beatty (2019), Eugene Lee (2022), and Richard Hudson (2024).

The TDF/Kitty Leech Ascending Artist Award (formerly the TDF/Irene Sharaff Young Master Award) was named in honor of the late designer and previous Sharaff Awards Voting Committee Chair Kitty Leech. This award is presented to a designer whose promising work has come to fruition. With this honor, we recognize Kitty Leech's and Irene Sharaff’s wish to see designers encouraged as they achieve success and excellence in the field.

The TDF/Kitty Leech Ascending Artist Award was previously bestowed upon Gregg Barnes (1994), Toni-Leslie James (1996), Paul Tazewell (1997), Martin Pakledinaz (1998), Suzy Benzinger (1999), Robert Perdziola (2000), Constance Hoffman (2001), Jonathan Bixby & Gregory Gale (2002), Anita Yavich (2003), Mirena Rada (2004), David Zinn (2005), Emilio Sosa (2006), Murell Horton (2007), Fabio Toblini (2008), Clint Ramos (2009), Alejo Vietti (2010), Olivera Gajic (2011), Mathew LeFebvre (2012), Daniel Lawson (2013), Linda Cho (2014), Brian Hemesath (2015), Suttirat Anne Larlarb (2016), Paloma Young (2017), Travis Halsey (2018), Miodrag Guberinic (2019), Dede Ayite (2022), and Machine Dazzle (2024).

The TDF/Irene Sharaff Artisan Award recognizes an individual or company that has made an outstanding supportive contribution in the field of costume technology. Honorees include assistant and associate costume designers, costume shops that transform sketches into glorious and breathtaking realities, teachers who dedicate their lives to turning raw talent into professional accomplished designers, and authors who create essential texts and trade publications without which designers could not function.

The TDF/Irene Sharaff Artisan Award was previously given to Ray Diffen (1999), Woody Shelp (2000), Barbara Matera (2001), Paul Huntley (2002), Maria Brizzi/Grace Costumes, Inc. (2003), Nino Novellino (2004), Vincent Zullo (2005), Martin Izquierdo (2006), Kermit Love (2007), Bessie Nelson (2008), Sally Ann Parsons (2009), John David Ridge (2010), Michael-Jon Costumes (2011), Lynn Pecktal (2012), Lawrence Vrba (2013), Marianne Krostyne (2014), Gino Bifulco – T.O. Dey Shoes (2015), Liz Covey & Rosemary Ingham (2016), Ernest Smith (2017), Fritz Masten (2018), Rodney Gordon (2019), Michael Curry (2022), and Tricorne, Inc. (2024).

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