Irene Sharaff
Irene Sharaff (January 23, 1910 – August 16, 1993) was an American costume designer for stage and screen. Her accolades include five Academy Awards and a Tony Award. Sharaff is universally recognized as one of the greatest costume designers of all time.
Also recorded as Irene Scharaff · Sharaff
Irene Sharaff
Public domain
- Born
- 1910.
- Died
- sources differ (1993 and 1993).
- Nationality
- United States.
- Occupation
- costume designer, fashion designer and scenographer.
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Documentary connections
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q450022 · wikipedia · Irene Sharaff
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The documentary record
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Background
Background
Sharaff was born in Boston to parents of Armenian descent. She studied at the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, the Art Students League of New York, and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris.
Documentary record
Irene Sharaff was born on 23 January 1910; the birthplace is recorded as Boston by the Bibliothèque nationale de France and as Boston, Mass. by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Career
Career
After working as a fashion illustrator in her youth, Sharaff turned to set and costume design. Her debut production was the 1931 Broadway production of Alice in Wonderland, starring Eva Le Gallienne. Her use of silks from Thailand for The King and I (1951) created a trend in fashion and interior decoration. Sharaff's work was featured in the movies West Side Story (Academy Award, 1961), Cleopatra (Academy Award, 1963), Meet Me in St. Louis, Hello, Dolly!, Mommie Dearest, The Other Side of Midnight, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Academy Award, 1966), Guys and Dolls, The Best Years of Our Lives, The King and I (Academy Award, 1956), An American in Paris (Academy Award, 1951), Funny Girl and Porgy and Bess. She also designed sets and costumes for American Ballet Theatre, the New York City Ballet, and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and contributed illustrations to fashion magazine's such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Among her Broadway design credits are Idiot's Delight, Lady in the Dark, As Thousands Cheer, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Virginia, Flower Drum Song, and Jerome Robbins' Broadway. The TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award was named for Sharaff. She was its first recipient in 1993. The award is now bestowed annually to a costume designer who, over the course of his or her career, has achieved great distinction and mastery of the art in theatre, film, opera or dance.
Documentary record
Irene Sharaff appears in the authority records of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek as a stage designer and costume designer (23 January 1910 – 10 August 1993). Irene Sharaff died on 10 August 1993; the place of death is New York, according to the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Death
Death
Sharaff died in New York City of congestive heart failure, complicated by emphysema, at the age of 83. She bequeathed her collection of books, along with that of her partner, Mai-Mai Sze, to the New York Society Library.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1910
Irene Sharaff was born on 23 January 1910.
1993
Irene Sharaff died on 16 August 1993.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Irene Sharaff”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q450022: Irene Sharaff
General reference · Wikidata
Awards and nominations
Other recognition Sharaff was the first recipient of the TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993, which was named in her honor. Sharaff was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1997. Sharaff was inducted into the Costume Designers Guild Hall of Fame in 1999.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Irene Sharaff, revision 1351266808 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Howe, Marvine. "Irene Sharaff, Designer, 83, Dies; Costumes Won Tony and Oscars". The New York Times, August 17, 1993
- 2.Hetrick, Adam.Irene Sharaff Awards to Honor Robin Wagner and Lewis Brown" playbill.com, February 22, 2011
- 3.Sharaff Award tdf.org, accessed February 22, 2011
- 4.Sharaff-Sze Collection | New York Society Library. Nysoclib.org.
- 5.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 24th Academy Awards. October 5, 2014.
- 6.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 26th Academy Awards. October 4, 2014.
- 7.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 27th Academy Awards. October 4, 2014.
- 8.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 28th Academy Awards. February 19, 2015.
- 9.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 29th Academy Awards. March 26, 2015.
- 10.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 32nd Academy Awards. October 5, 2014.
- 11.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 33rd Academy Awards. October 5, 2014.
- 12.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 34th Academy Awards. October 5, 2014.
- 13.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 36th Academy Awards. October 5, 2014.
- 14.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 39th Academy Awards. October 4, 2014.
- 15.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 40th Academy Awards. October 4, 2014.
- 16.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 42nd Academy Awards. October 4, 2014.
- 17.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 50th Academy Awards. October 5, 2014.
- 18.British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). 23rd BAFTA Film Awards.
- 19.American Theatre Wing. THE TONY AWARD WINNERS / 1952.
- 20.American Theatre Wing. THE TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS / 1957.
- 21.American Theatre Wing. THE TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS / 1958.
- 22.American Theatre Wing. THE TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS / 1959.
- 23.American Theatre Wing. THE TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS / 1964.
- 24.American Theatre Wing. THE TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS / 1966.
- 25.American Theatre Wing. THE TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS / 1968.
- 26.Theatre Development Fund. TDF Irene Sharaff Awards and Past Winners.
- 27.Viagas, Robert. Julie Andrews Named to Theatre Hall of Fame. Playbill. January 22, 1997.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 1
- Sharaff, Irene. Broadway and Hollywood: Costumes Designed by Irene Sharaff, Van Nostrand Reinhold Co (1976)
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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