Karinska

Karinska was a senior costume designer and former head of the costume department at New York City Ballet. In 1933, Karinska made her first ballet costumes based on designs by Christian Berard for George Balanchine's "Cotillion" for Les Ballets de Theatre Monte Carlo. In 1938, Karinska came to America. Since then she lived and worked in New York. After further work in Hollywood, she received an Oscar in 1948 for her costumes for Ingrid Bergman in "Jeanne d'Arc". In 1949 Karinska joined New York City Ballet to design the costumes for George Balanchine's "Bourrée Fantasque". Since then, she has been responsible for the execution of almost all the ballet's costumes; at first she made them, later she often designed them herself. In 1963, the workshop was taken over by the New York City Ballet, for whom Karinska has worked exclusively ever since. Her last and perhaps most elaborate work, "Vienna Waltzes", was created in 1977. Karinska was awarded the Capezio Award in 1962, an annual honour for outstanding contributions to the world of dance. She was the only costume designer ever to receive this award. Illness in the last years of her life prevented Karinska from continuing to take an active part in the daily work of the costume workshop. She died in 1983 at the age of 97.