There will be tons of treasures to check out at a sale to be held this weekend by legendary costume designer Irene Corey, a long-time Dallas resident perhaps best known for building the costumes for Barney. Her production team, based in East Dallas, specializes in colorful "walk-around" costumes, from the Chick-Fil-A cows to "Bacteria Man," created for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Virginia. She's made costumes for crustaceans, porcupines, rodents, as well as cubes, spheres and digits. Remember the walking "Quick Pick" lottery numbers? Irene Corey Design Associates even has a whole division that creates costumes for church productions. You got togs for shepherds, Roman soldiers and a wide variety of angels (some with wings that stretch from here to Bethlehem).
But to theater insiders, Corey's is renowned for two influential books: The Mask of Reality: An Approach to Design for Theater (1968) and The Face is a Canvas: The Design and Technique of Theatrical Makeup (1989). She's traveled across the world working on theatrical productions, designing costumes and makeup inspired by Byzantine mosaics for an outdoor musical production called The Book of Job, which appeared on the BBC, and she's done animal costumes for a production of The Tortoise and the Hare staged in England, South Africa and the United States.
Corey has amassed a large library of books on design, cultural history and theater, as well as art and curiosities from all over the world. The sale is at 4147 Herschel, Saturday and Sunday, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. I'm already sorry I'm telling you about this before I get there first. --Glenna Whitley
