Fifty years on, Marilyn Monroe is a style icon that is instantly recognisable because of her platinum hair, hourglass figure and that famous white dress in the Seven Year Itch. Also with Michelle Williams playing Marilyn Monroe in A Week with Marilyn she has been bought to the forefront of our minds once again. But would we be able to name the designer who made the costumes that skyrocketed her to stardom?
‘Dressing Marilyn: How a Hollywood icon was styled by William Travilla’ was a book written by Andrew Hansford, who set up the exhibition ‘The Lost Dresses of Marilyn’ – an exhibition that first debuted in the UK in 2007. This book gives an insight into the relationship between Travilla and Monroe.
The book starts by telling us about how Travilla became a costume designer and gives us an overview of his working life. It goes on to give us a brief biography of his life, which explains how Monroe and Travilla met, and talks about their working and personal relationship.
It is then split into sections, each of which telling us about a different dress that Travilla designed and made for Monroe. In these sections we are informed which film the dress was made for, how it was made and any other obstacles that had to be overcome.
How the costumes were constructed is extraordinary, and something that this book describes in great detail, such as when Travilla made the Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend dress he used felt similar to what would be used on a billiard table so that the dress wouldn’t crease when Monroe did the dance routine in that scene. Coming from a fashion design background it is interesting to see through the book how different costume design is to fashion design.
The photographs of the costumes in the films, how they looked on the actresses and the close-ups of the costumes showing their construction are amazing and incredibly clear. The colour and detail of the costumes are something we may take for granted and are shown in spectacular fashion in these photographs.
Also included in this book is Travilla’s original drawings – this is a rare opportunity to see a designer’s creative process from design to final product. You can see how Travilla wanted the costumes to look and the changes that had taken place between design and construction. It also includes photographs of the original patterns that Travilla used for the costumes, which is something unique to this book.
The book contains unique detailed photographs of costumes that weren’t highly publicized but are beautiful and could be an inspiration to future designers. This book gives us a unique understanding of the style of Monroe, the relationship between Travilla and Monroe and the structure and design of costumes.
Overall this book is gorgeous with its vibrant pictures, is easy to read in one sitting and I would recommend taking a look for yourselves.
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