Alenka Bartl was born in Ljubljana in 1930. She first wanted to become a fashion creator, so she enrolled at the Academy of Applied Arts in Belgrade. While there, she became interested in costume design. In 1953, she graduated in costume design from the Academy of Applied Arts and returned to Ljubljana, where she started working at the Slovenian National Theatre under the tutelage of Mija Jarc.
She gradually became the most renowned costume designer in what was then Yugoslavia, having received a number of prestigious prizes (Sterija Prize, Borštnik Prize, Prešeren Prize, Badjur Prize, etc.) for her work. Last year, President Borut Pahor decorated her with the Order for Merits.
A costume is more than an outfit
Bartl founded the Department of Costume Design at the Ljubljana Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, and worked there as a professor for a number of years. After retiring, she wrote her memoirs and began organizing exhibitions (her most successful one being an exhibition at the National Gallery of Slovenia in 2012). Ivan Svetina, head of the National Theatre Museum of Slovenia, said before the opening of the exhibition that Bartl had created a special genre within theatre and gave costume design a new meaning. “She showed that a costume is more than just an outfit,” said Svetina.