THEATRE COSTUME
ABECEDARIUM OF ILLUSIONS
Scenkonstmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden, 2025

Scenkonstmuseet's largest temporary exhibition to date takes visitors into the world of theatre costume—from A to Z. Structured as an abecedarium, each letter opens a new perspective on one of the stage's most intimate and least-seen arts.

The exhibition unfolds a world of skilled hands, extraordinary materials, and the quiet magic that happens long before the curtain rises. Visitors meet the tailors, milliners, and costume textile artists who translate a director's vision into cloth and thread, and follow a costume from its first sketched outline, through fabric selection and fitting-room negotiations, to the moment it steps into the light and becomes a character. How does a silhouette shape a role? What does a collar communicate that words cannot?

Featuring around 100 costumes drawn from Scenkonstmuseet's own collection, theatres across Sweden, and private loans—each piece a document of performance, collaboration, and craft.

Size: 800m² 
Role: Curation, exhibition design, graphic design
Curated by Anna-Klara Mehlich. Photos: Hendrik Zeitler