Saturday, October 17, 1998

'Designing nun' honored at University of Incarnate Word

By IHOSVANI RODRIGUEZ

San Antonio Express-News

SAN ANTONIO --Call her the Designing Nun.

You don't get commissioned to re-create the dresses worn by Vivien Leigh in "Gone with the Wind" when your only credit in the fashion world is wearing matching socks.

She also created the official uniform of the Tower of the America's guides during 1968's HemisFair.

Still not impressed? She's the founder and former director of the University of the Incarnate Word's noted fashion design program -- one of the top programs in the Southwest.

In all, she has more than 50 years in fashion.

"I am just someone who has always been interested in sewing. That's all," she explains, ever so humbly.

The university is rededicating the newly remodeled Sister Mary Elizabeth Joyce Building, formerly known as the Home Economics Building.

On display throughout the month will be the four "Gone with the Wind" replicas that Sister Joyce calls her proudest accomplishment.

"I would say it was quite a project, and I enjoyed every minute of it," she recalls fondly. "However, I think people were more interested in 'Gone With the Wind' than with what we were doing."

Back in 1986, the original movie dresses were being stored at the University of Texas at Austin, which has an extensive collection of theater memorabilia. The school was making some cash by renting out the dresses to universities, museums and other organizations. After a while, however, maintaining these historical frocks was costing the university quite the nickel. Time was chomping on the quickly deteriorating material, and the folks at the insurance company were growing ever more demanding. Consequently, UT-Austin was forced to return the originals. But not before hiring Sister Joyce and her two students to produce carbon copies of the extravagant gowns.

They included the Maroon Velvet Ostrich Feather Dress, the Blue Velvet Robe, Scarlett's Wedding Dress and the Green Curtain Dress.

A stickler for precision and accuracy, Sister Joyce mandated that every stitch, fabric and color was to be identical to the originals, recalls former student Carrie Harrell. The other student was Jan Hevenor-Boyle.

"I remember that each leaf had many points, and we had to match every single point," she said. "I think I had more points on my finger than on the actual dress."

About a year later, the team finished the project. To Xerox the garments, the seemingly endless list of materials included 16 yards of Italian cotton velveteen, 10 yards of bias vines and 46 yards of blue French silk velvet. The wedding dress alone used 160 silk leafs and 20 lace leaves.

In the end, there weren't any marching bands or ceremonies to mark the end of the "once-in-a-lifetime" project. Unceremoniously, the garments were packed in a van and sent off into the wide world.

"When we were asked if we wanted to do the project, it was immediately a unanimous decision," remembers Hevenor-Boyle. "Of course, the project was a big part of it, but having the opportunity of working along side Sister Joyce was the best part of it all."

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Distributed by The Associated Press