Celebrity fashion. Why are we so fascinated by the subject? Whether we admit it or not, there's no denying the fact that we like to see how famous people dress. As the summer movie season gets in to full gear, it's as great a time as any to look at one of most-requested topics I get: celebrity fashion.
How Motion Pictures Changed Everything
Moving pictures first made their appearance in the 1890's. While Thomas Edison is generally credited with inventing the medium, several men were instrumental in giving birth to this process, including the brothers Lumire, who invented the first portable movie camera, and George Eastman, who created film for motion pictures.
The first movies lasted only minutes and had no sound. Nonetheless, they created a sensation. By 1910, the Eastman Company had perfected the technology of fashioning and developing vast lengths of film. Within a matter of years, going to the movies on Saturday was a part of our culture.
1916 marked the emergence of costume design in cinema. Up until that time, film actors usually supplied their own clothes, if the story was contemporary, or directors rented outfits from costume companies, if the film was a period piece.
But Parisian-born director Louis J. Gasnier had a particular "look" in mind when he was working on a movie with serial queen Pearl White. He summoned a tailor and had him assemble an outfit for the actress consisting of a black suit, white blouse, loose tie, and velour beret. The result? Secretaries of the day made this ensemble standard business dress-which it still is, in varying degrees. It was the first emergence of Hollywood celebrity fashion.
The "Big Players" In Costume Design
Gilbert Adrian. Orry Kelly. Edith Head. If you were alive in the 40's, 50's and 60's, you probably recognize those names. If you weren't, you've no doubt see their work. For each made an indelible impression on celebrity fashion history.
Gilbert Adrian, known simply as Adrian, began designing clothes for Broadway and had worked his way to MGM in Hollywood by the grand old age of 20. His ideas were fresh, innovative, and very dramatic, and helped establish MGM as the "glamour" studio, where audiences could watch and dream about a jet-set life.
His first muse was Greta Garbo, whose "Mata Hari" costumes caused a sensation in 1931. He later poured Jean Harlow into those slinky gowns that became her signature, and gave Joan Crawford the shoulder pads that started a revolution. For "Letty Lynton" (1942), he put Joan in a ruffled white organdy gown to highlight her broad shoulders, conceal her hips, and make her look taller. The result? Macy's in New York sold 500,000 copies of the gown!
Adrian opened his own atelier in Los Angeles later that same year, and won the Coty award for fashion just two years later. He retired to Brazil in 1952 to paint landscapes.
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