Costumes bare the true psyches of 'Intimate Apparel' characters

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As a costume designer, Pei-Chi Su had a special interest in working on "Intimate Apparel."

Lynn Nottage's play, "Intimate Apparel," which begins previews Thursday at City Theatre, is about Esther, an unmarried African-American woman who designs and creates beautiful lingerie for women in 1905 Manhattan.

She creates lavish corsets and other undergarments for Uptown socialites, Tenderloin prostitutes and brides-to-be who live in her boarding house with fabrics she buys from Mr. Marks, an Orthodox Jewish merchant.

"The story is such a wonderful piece. It's about a seamstress working on intimate apparel, and at the time it would only be seen by your man," Su says. "She imagines a lot of romance in the bedroom, and she sometimes feels lonely creating all these pieces for others and nothing for herself.


"The reason her work is good is that she actually puts thought into it -- how the men will undo the corset, the sassiness of it."

Among the costumes Su is designing for the play are a number of corsets the actresses will wear.

"It takes a great deal of intricate work and precise fitting, but it's easier to start from scratch than adjust an already built corset," Su says. "Corsets are very hard to alter, and there's such great discussion in the play about how beautiful the corset is. I want to do my best."

In many ways, Su's work is much like Esther's. But, she says, there's one big difference in the way the garments are ultimately used.

"Right now, I am also having fantasies imagining the actors on stage presenting their fantasy for me," Su says. "But for her, that would be something she is not able to see."

As a costume designer, Su knows that clothes do more than cover actors' bodies. They also speak volumes about the play's characters.

That's particularly true in "Intimate Apparel."

Nottage uses the garments Esther creates as a way of expressing both Esther's dreams and longings and those of her clients.

"Everybody appreciates her when she's doing the garment," Su says. "But they're using the pieces to get what they want. There's something sad about that."

Esther's clients appreciate her work, but they don't see the artistry of what she does. For the women who purchase them, they're simply devices to an end.

"A lot of women still think, 'If I put on sexy underwear, my husband will love me,'" Su says. "These should be wonderful relationships, and nobody's happy. That's something I think is very interesting."

The garments also serve as symbolic devices that help explain what prevents Esther's dreams from becoming reality, Su says. Esther creates sensual pieces, but does not know how to be sensual.

When her long-distance correspondence with George leads to marriage, Esther sews a smoking jacket for her new husband, using a length of expensive Japanese silk she purchased from her merchant friend Mr. Marks, and builds herself a white satin wedding corset embroidered with orange blossoms.

That clothing forecasts the difference between Esther and George and the path their marriage will take.

"George cannot wait to take (Esther's) clothes off. Mr. Marks would have spent 30 minutes talking about the cloth," Su says. "The smoking jacket she builds for George does not fit. Does that mean she got cheated on her partner, her lover? But it fits Mr. Marks perfectly. Does that mean Mr. Marks is her ideal man?"

Like Esther, Su finds it easier to create garments for others than it is to create them for herself.

"I never sew for myself," Su says. "If I do two shows with an actor, I can find outfits for them and get them to fit. But for myself, it's a huge problem. ... It's easier to create for other persons because you can think what you want. But it's difficult to know yourself.

"That may be part of Esther's problem as well."

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