HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Emi Wada (和田 惠美, ''Wada Emi'', 18 March 1937 – 13 November 2021) was a Japanese
costume designer A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costum ...
who worked extensively in stage, screen, and ballet productions. She was born in Kyoto, and attended Kyoto City University of Arts before she married Tsutomu (Ben) Wada at age 20. She was nominated for 13 awards and won six, most notably the
Academy Award for Best Costume Design The Academy Award for Best Costume Design is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for achievement in film costume design. The award was first given in 1949, for films made in 1948 ...
for her work on
Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...
's film '' Ran'' (1985). Wada died on 13 November 2021, at the age of 84.


Early life and education

Wada was born in
Kyoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Kyoto Prefecture has a population of 2,561,358 () and has a geographic area of . Kyoto Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the northeast, Shiga Prefecture ...
. She was the eldest of four daughters and went to high school at Doshisha Girls’ Junior High School. Wada wanted to become a painter, and even though there were few women studying painting in university, her liberal family supported her dream. She took the entrance exam and entered the Department of Western Painting in Kyoto City University of Arts. While visiting Yoshihide Yoda, her mother’s acquaintance who worked on film screenplays, Wada met Tsutomu (Ben) Wada. Tsutomu Wada was a NHK Osaka TV drama director at the time. Wada had recently submitted her work to the New York Parson School of Arts and the Chicago Art Institute. However, instead of studying abroad on scholarship, she married Tsutomu Wada at age 20, six months after their first encounter. Despite having initially gone to school to become a painter, her relationship with her husband led to designing the stage effects and costumes for plays he was involved with. From then, Wada continued designing for the stage.


Career

She created costumes for the
Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...
film '' Ran'', which earned her an Academy Award for costume design, the
Peter Greenaway Peter Greenaway, (born 5 April 1942) is a British film director, screenwriter and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Mannerist painting in particular. Common traits in his films a ...
film '' Prospero's Books'', and the
Zhang Yimou Zhang Yimou (; born 14 November 1950) is a Chinese filmmaker.Tasker, Yvonne (2002). "Zhang Yimou" i''Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers'' Routledge Publishing, p. 412. . Google Book Search. Retrieved 21 August 2008. A leading figure of China's Cinem ...
films, ''
Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...
'' and ''
House of Flying Daggers ''House of Flying Daggers'' () is a 2004 ''wuxia'' martial arts film from China, directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau, and Zhang Ziyi. It opened in limited release within the United States on 3 December 2004, in New ...
''. She designed costumes for operas, including the 2006 premiere performance of
Tan Dun Tan Dun (, ; born 18 August 1957) is a Chinese-born American composer and conductor. A leading figure of contemporary classical music, he draws from a variety of Western and Chinese influences, a pairing which has shaped much of his life and mu ...
's '' The First Emperor'' and for ballets, including ''The Peony Pavilion'' by Fei Bo (
National Ballet of China The National Ballet of China (NBC), known in China as the Central Ballet Troupe, is the national ballet company of the People's Republic of China. It was founded on 31 December 1959. The ballet company works from the Tianqiao Theater, which was s ...
, 2008). Wada also designed the costumes for the 2018 Chinese adaptation of Shakespeare's ''King Lear''. She released multiple books of her works, including ''My Costumes'', ''EMI WADA WORKS'', and ''My Life in the Making'', the latter of which was created on pieces of textiles with pictures of her work inside. Wada died on 13 November 2021, at the age of 84.


Awards

Wada and her costumes were nominated for thirteen awards and won six.


Reception

Her work for the 2015 production of ''The Peony Pavilion'' was described by ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' as "some of the loveliest ballet creations in memory" with the newspaper further noting that: "Skirt hems flickered like flames as the dancers moved, and the leading ballerina’s sheer overdress floated around her like an afterglow."


Recent works

* ''Rokumeikan'' (1986) * ''Princess from the Moon'' (1987) * ''Rikyu'' (1989) * ''Dream'' (1990) * ''Prospero’s Books'' (1991) * ''The Pillow Book'' (1997) * ''The Soong Sisters'' (1998) * ''8 ½ Women'' (2000) * ''
Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...
'' (2002) * ''Lovers'' (2004) * ''House of Flying'' ''Daggers'' (2005) * ''Spirit'' (2006) * ''The Go Master'' (2007) * ''
Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...
'' (2007) * ''Warrior & Wolf'' (2011) * ''Reign of Assassins'' (2011) * ''Wu Dang'' (2013) * '' Oh My General'' (2017) * ''Ran'' (2017) * ''Lady Of The Dynasty'' (2017) * ''God of War'' (2018) * ''They Say Nothing Stays the Same'' (2019) * ''Samurai Marathon'' (2019) * ''Love After Love'' (2020)


Notes


External links


Emi Wada official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wada, Emi 1937 births 2021 deaths Best Costume Design Academy Award winners Japanese costume designers People from Kyoto Prefecture Women costume designers Kyoto City University of Arts alumni