UCLA prof dresses up the best
Ramicova brings experience, insight to UCLA campus
By Barbara E. Hernandez
Daily Bruin Staff
For being in a small and very competitive field like costume
design, Professor Dunya Ramicova has done extremely well. Sitting
at her desk, the youthful Ramicova says, "right now I’m working on
"The Faerie Queene" by Purcell for the English National Opera."
It’s just another job for this new UCLA professor of design.
Having designed thousands of costumes for such diverse companies
as the Metropolitan Opera and the Frankfurt Opera in countries like
the Netherlands, Scotland, France and Austria, Ramicova now sits in
her office in Macgowan Hall. Composed and alert, Ramicova talks
briefly about her profession, one in which she may have to come up
with 30 to 400 costumes for a single show. "In opera, it’s over
100. Theater is about 30," she says. "In opera you usually know one
to two years ahead of time. With a regular play, sometimes it’s as
little as three months."
"I first came to UCLA in 1992 for a quarter," says the newly
UCLA tenured professor of design. "Now I’m here for as long as I
feel like it."
Regardless of her success in costume designing, Ramicova still
regards teaching as something she can’t do without. "I teach
because I learn from it. I’m selfish. I constantly have to learn
new things." She loves the idea of young minds questioning and
creating, something that never fails to teach her as well.
Ramicova, born in Czechoslovakia, came to the United States to
attend college. After finishing her bachelor of arts degree at the
Art Institute of Chicago, she went to graduate school at Yale,
where she learned her talent and dedication. "They did a lot of
repertory theater," she says. After nine years of summer stock in
Williamstown, Mass., Ramicova has paid her dues working long hours
creating hundreds of costumes in three months.
"Coming up with ideas for operas and plays usually comes with
the designer’s interpretation of the play and the first meeting
with the director. "It’s a strange relationship," Ramicova
pronounces, "it’s kind of like a love affair … like when you
first fall in love and you try to charm each other."
Often the director has ideas about the play or opera, either
vague or very definite, and the designer must collaborate
effectively. "Artistically, it has a lot to do with the director
and what his vision is," Ramicova says. "Peter Sellars is very
specific. He knows exactly what he wants, but what he wants is so
wonderful, I don’t mind."
Ramicova has a warm working relationship with the acclaimed
theatrical director. Sellars, sometimes seen as both a tyrant and
genius by some, and an enfant terrible by Newsweek, works magic
into cliche. His new version of "The Merchant of Venice" takes
place in Venice, Calif., portraying ethnicities in turmoil.
Ramicova spent time in Venice taking photos of street kids, getting
ideas for costuming. "It really was very creative," she says.
Sometimes there are collaborations with actors or singers, since
Ramicova has always appreciated input, but not all of it goes as
planned. "One of my teachers once told me that every production has
a g.e.," she grins," which stands for giant error … there’s
always something on stage that you see and you go, ‘My God, what is
that?!’"
She once had to design clothes for an actress who seemed to be
allergic to every fabric known to man, and certain divas and
virtuosos refuse to cooperate. "Someone like Pavarotti will only
wear a certain kind of costume," Ramicova states. "You end up not
designing a costume for him, just designing what he normally wears.
He really doesn’t want to wear anything but a muumuu."
"You have to deal with that," she says, as well as other
critical aspects of the theater. A costume designer really must be
humble to deal with directors shouting, ‘I don’t like it, get rid
of it!’ or the producer’s wife coming in one day and saying, ‘I
don’t think that’s a nice costume.’"
"You can’t be too in love with your stuff," Ramicova cautions.
"You have to be flexible."
Even with an actress-mother, Ramicova was more interested in
drawing. About her choice of career, her family was less than
thrilled. "My mother wanted me to marry a doctor and my father
wasn’t too crazy about it. For a long time I was struggling." She
supported herself, even during the lean years, without a grant or
other means of support. "I was lucky I was able to support myself,"
she laughs, "just not in the style I was accustomed to."