Willa Kim is an American costume designer

Costume Designer

A costume designer or costume mistress/master is a person whose responsibility is to design costumes for a film or stage production. He or she is considered an important part of the "production team", working alongside the director, scenic and lighting designers as well as the sound designer. The...

 for stage

Stage (theatre)

In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...

, dance, and film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

.

Kim was born in Los Angeles, California and is a 1935 graduate of Belmont High School

Belmont High School (Los Angeles, California)

Belmont Senior High School is a public high school located at 1575 West 2nd Street in the Westlake community of Los Angeles, California. The school, which serves grades 9 through 12, is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District.-History:...

 where she excelled in art and was an art editor for the 1935 Campanile (Belmont's yearbook). The end sheets of the yearbook were the start of her career, as they are free hand drawings of her impressions of high school life atop Crown Hill (the site of Belmont High School). For her post-secondary education, she attended Chouinard Art Institute

Chouinard Art Institute

The Chouinard Art Institute was a professional art school founded in 1921 in Los Angeles, California, by Nelbert Murphy Chouinard .-Founder:...

 (now the California Institute of the Arts

California Institute of the Arts

The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...

) on scholarship. Upon graduation, she worked for the designer Raoul Pene du Bois

Raoul Pene Du Bois

Raoul Pene Du Bois was an American costume designer and scenic designer for the stage and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Career:...

 in the film industry but soon started designing for the theatre. Kim has designed costumes for Broadway shows, winning the Tony Award

Tony Award

The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 for her costume designs for The Will Rogers Follies and Sophisticated Ladies

Sophisticated Ladies

Sophisticated Ladies is a musical revue based on the music of Duke Ellington.After fifteen previews, the Broadway production, conceived by Donald McKayle, directed by Michael Smuin, and choreographed by McKayle, Smuin, Henry LeTang, Bruce Heath, and Mercedes Ellington, opened on March 1, 1981 at...

. She has received an additional four Tony Award nominations and has won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design

The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors...

 twice. She has designed costumes for the American Ballet Theatre

American Ballet Theatre

American Ballet Theatre , based in New York City, was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century. It continues as a leading dance company in the world today...

 as well as other dance companies, including more than 50 works for Eliot Feld

Eliot Feld

Eliot Feld is an American modern ballet choreographer, performer and director.-Life and career:Feld was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Alice , a travel agent, and Benjamin Noah Feld, an attorney...

. Furthermore, in 2007 Ms. Kim was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame, making her one of only a handful of costume designers so honored. Broadway credits include Bosoms and Neglect

Bosoms and Neglect

Bosoms and Neglect is a play by American playwright John Guare, first staged in 1979 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.-Productions:...

.

In 2003 Kim received the Patricia Zipprodt Award for Innovative Costume Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology

Fashion Institute of Technology

The Fashion Institute of Technology, generally known as FIT, is a State University of New York college of art, business, design, and technology connected to the fashion industry, with an urban campus located on West 27th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of...

. In 2005 she received the Distinguished Achievement Award for Costume Design from the United States Institute for Theatre Technology.

The book The Designs of Willa Kim (2005) by Bobbi Owen (ISBN 1933348003) presents Kim's designs.

Family

• Her brother was war hero Col. Young Oak Kim (US Army). Kim attended the special ceremony of Young Oak Kim Academy
  Young Oak Kim Academy
  Young Oak Kim Academy is a middle school within the Los Angeles Unified School District , Local District 4. It was established in 2009 as the only middle school in the LAUSD to practice single-sex education. The school is named in honor of Colonel Young-Oak Kim, the first Asian-American colonel...
  
  (L.A.) which honored her brother on October 6, 2009.

External links