Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2009 - 72

book

reviews
Dressed

A Century of Hollywood Costume Design

by deborah Nadoolman landis; New York, Harper Collins,
2007. 592 pp. Cloth, $75.00.
Reviewed by Martha Marking
This visually stunning book
showcases 800 images from
the past 100 years of Hollywood's most tantalizing
costumes and the actors who
brought them to life. The images selected by deborah
Nadoolman landis, herself an
Academy Award-nominated
Hollywood costume designer
(Coming to America), include a multitude of previously unpublished costume
renderings and production
photos. They tell the story of
costumes and how they were
developed for many of Hollywood's most iconic films. It provides a history of the introduction of costume designers for
film, traces the creative path costumes travel from script to
screen, and chronicles how costume designers are employed
and used in film. In all instances, landis quotes personal commentaries by actors, photographers, biographers, directors,
and other eyewitnesses. Having an insider's track as both a
costume designer and as the wife of director John landis (An
American Werewolf in London, The Blues Brothers, Animal
House) likely allowed her access that others might not have
had. It doesn't hurt that she also has a Phd in costume history
from the Royal College of Art in london.

Influence on fashion
From the very beginning through today Hollywood has had
a direct influence on the fashions of the movie-going public.
Movies such as The Sting, Love Story, Rocky Horror Picture
Show, Flashdance, Coming to America, Out of Africa, Shaft,
and Annie Hall are only a few examples. Many of us are familiar with the often reported, though undocumented claims that
undershirt sales plummeted after Clark Gable wasn't wearing one in It Happened One Night and how leather jackets
and jeans became mainstream after James dean and Marlon
brando wore them for Rebel Without a Cause and The Wild

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One respectively. landis provides other intriguing information, that boris Karloff's shoes for Frankenstein weighed in
at twenty-one pounds each, for example, and that the laundry
bill for Gone With the Wind was $10,000.
In the early years of Hollywood the studio publicity
departments carefully crafted the images of their stars and
faithfully documented what they wore on screen and at home.
d.W. Griffith, director and producer most noted for The Birth
of a Nation, was significant in shaping the current role of
the costume designer. There's a story that he once offered to
purchase clothes an actress had worn for an audition even
though he didn't cast her. The first movie to have a dedicated
costume designer was filmed in 1912. Initially movie companies relied on actors to make or purchase their own clothes.
As you might expect, they were typically a mismatch of items.
Actors at this time also provided their own continuity and
were responsible for remembering how they had worn their
costumes, hair, and makeup from scene to scene.
Historical accuracy became more important in the 1920s.
The role of the costume designer was firmly established. Costume departments became well-oiled assembly lines. Costumes were built for the stars, while other cast members wore
clothes from stock or from personal wardrobes. by the 1930s
more realistically drawn characters encouraged costume designers to make more authentic, realistic choices of clothing.
The addition of sound and other technological advances gave
all participants a steep learning curve for authenticity.
The 1940s were among the most prolific and glorious
years for the studios. Hollywood was enlisted to encourage
the country to cope with shortages brought on by the war,
and rationing forced the studios to develop creative ways to
avoid sanctions. As color began to dominate films, color consultants played an important role in designers' choices. More
than ever before, American women wanted fashions worn by
their favorite actresses on screen. Typically costume designers were now charged with creating costumes for all actors in
a film instead of just for the stars.

Imperceptible design
during the 1950s the spread of television confronted the studios with dwindling audiences. In-house designers were becoming obsolete, as freelance designing as we know it began.
In the 1960s small intimate realistic films made the role of
the costume designer more precarious. Anyone, it appeared,
could do this. by the 1970s, little money was being reinvested to replace worn out costumes, and at times actors were
still asked to bring their own clothing for filming. Realistic

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2009