wardrobe mistress

noun

1. a woman in charge of keeping theatrical costumes cleaned, pressed, and in wearable condition.

wardrobe mistress

noun

1. a person responsible for maintaining and sometimes making the costumes in a theatre

Word History and Origins

Origin of wardrobe mistress¹

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

In 1994, Coates told The Times from the Warner Bros. set of “Lois & Clark” that when she portrayed Lane she “had no wardrobe mistress and no hairdresser in those days. Oh boy — I had one suit! One suit, and a double in case I got egg on it! And George’s dresser dressed me. My makeup man was Harry Thomas, who made up every monster in Hollywood.”

From Los Angeles Times

The book, rife with Tinseltown scandals and rumors about the sexual habits of stars like Rudolph Valentino — Mr. Anger’s grandmother was a wardrobe mistress in silent films — was widely bootlegged before its official publication in the United States in 1975.

From New York Times

Patrick McGrath is the author, most recently, of a novel, “The Wardrobe Mistress.”

From New York Times

I ask her if there’s a trick, when you’re the daughter of a doctor and a wardrobe mistress, to playing a monarch as well as she does.

From New York Times

After stints as The Sunday Times’s Wardrobe Mistress and fashion features editor at British Vogue, Ms. Weir became editor of the London newspaper’s weekly fashion and lifestyle magazine in July 2015.

From New York Times