Throughout her storied career, actress Glenn Close has collaborated closely with costume designers to help bring the characters she embodies to life. Inspired by the creativity and craftsmanship she saw in her film and theater productions, she began collecting and preserving costumes and accessories from her projects after her first movie, The World According to Garp (1982). In 2017, she donated her over 800-piece collection to the Sage Fashion Collection in the School of Art, Architecture + Design at Indiana University.

First presented at the Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University in 2020, The Art of the Character: Highlights from the Glenn Close Costume Collection will offer visitors a unique opportunity to thoroughly explore the careful consideration and exacting details that teams of designers, drapers, and other craftspeople created in over 50 ensembles and numerous examples of jewelry, shoes, and other accessories. It will feature the work of award-winning costume designers, including Anthony Powell (1935–2021), Ann Roth (b. 1949), James Acheson (b. 1946), and Alexandra Byrne (b. 1962), and costumers like Barbara Matera Ltd (active 1968–2001), from 14 of Close’s best-loved movies.