You may want to stay home this week and nest (understandable), but we're going to drop a note in your suggestion box anyway. Starting today, the University Co-op will present Robert De Niro in Costume: Selections From the Archive, a showcase of 13 sartorial goodies from the much-touted Harry Ransom Center treasure trove.

This short-run exhibit is unique because, as HRC film curator Steve Wilson pointed out, few actors have the foresight or the clout to save their costumes--and De Niro saved all of them. (We thought Wilson's analysis very generous, since a less schooled mind might have attributed such wardrobe hoarding to megalomania.)

When we asked Wilson about which costumes in the collection were most prized, he said the leopard print robe from Raging Bull (1980) and the shirt/jacket combo from Taxi Driver (1976) duke it out for top billing. But he indicated that other costumes have higher artistic and scholastic value. The ones from Cape Fear (1991), for example, illustrate how costumes are made, designed and used. Others, like the multiple salmon-colored suits from Casino (1995), offer "an invaluable record of production" because of their varying levels of wear and tear. The same goes for every sock, tie and shirt from Analyze This (1999).

To a Method man like Robert De Niro, costume design and selection are pretty important. And while we're not saying that if you give the guy a petticoat and a corset he can outdo Vivien Leigh, we are saying that his trace DNA-bearing castoffs deserve some homage.

Robert De Niro in Costume
The University Co-op
2246 Guadalupe St.
March 19 thru April 1
M-F 8:30am-7:30pm, Sat. 9:30am-6pm, Sun. 11am-5pm

Related: Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) is running tonight at the Ransom Center. The show starts at 7pm, the screening is free, and seating is limited.

Bang the Drum Slowly
Harry Ransom Center
21st and Guadalupe
March 19, 7pm