14 thoughts on “Costume Designer Adrian: The Frock Flicks Guide

  1. Not a film, but Adrian also worked on the original Broadway production of Camelot.

  2. I just love his Garbo costumes and Marie Antoinette. Another favourite is Rasputin and the Empress.
    Somehow he made his silhouettes look right sans corsetry and nonperiod seems.
    Your colour pics are amazing. The Marie Antoinette Gown looks very like the coronation Gown of Luisa Ulrika of Sweden.

  3. These are all just… fun. :-) But I am super puzzled by him getting 1880s silhouettes basically right, and 1890s and 1906 very, very wrong considering it was within living memory, and even young audiences would’ve probably been familiar via family photos.

  4. My mother adored Jeanette MacDonald and Greta Garbo, so I learned early on about “Gowns by Adrian.” His dresses for contemporary films are also gorgeous.

  5. I can find the makings of a gorgeous goth wardrobe right on that page–if only I still had the gorgeous skin and profile that Garbo and others have…

  6. “Not exactly a historical movie, but did you know that Glinda the Good Witch’s pink sparkly gown was recycled? Yep, Adrian took that ballgown first designed for Jeanette MacDonald in San Francisco (above) and made it over for this movie!”

    This claim has been going around various blogs, websites (and even a book IIRC) for about a decade, but I’m calling total BS on it.

    First of all, why the hell would it have been desirable or even necessary to recycle this costume?

    We’re talking about a production where they’re hand-striping socks for Munchkins– most of whom were basically extras– and one of the main characters has to make do with a made-over costume for her scenes where she’s supposed to be a major part of the “wow” factor in the film?

    Secondly, according to Margaret Hamilton in interviews she did in the ’70s for Aljean Harmetz’s “Making of” Oz book, Billie Burke was treated royally on the “Oz” set, with a special pink and blue dressing room. (Burke was The Widow Ziegfeld, y’know, and her okay had given MGM an Oscar-winning Ziegfeld biopic just a couple of years earlier.)

    Making over an old costume doesn’t jibe with the way Burke was treated on the set.

    Thirdly, Adrian used that basic shape in a number of his costumes from that period, and layers of tulle spangled with starbursts was pretty much a signature thing with him.

    And finally, if you really examine the two costumes side by side, they’re clearly not the same dress made over.

    The top of the MacDonald dress is off-shoulder and low-cut in the back as well as the front, and the waistline is a straight waistline:

    https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EM-YMLNMDkk/Vwh38gTu6tI/AAAAAAAAKPw/lp0fgA5ZW6kSlmrOQVvVRQjxln4Z6rB8w/s400/jeanette-frenchie-805×1024.jpg

    https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n64kMp8eMP0/Vwh6EuugVQI/AAAAAAAAKQE/qBUmktimXwUxKyQXI8vzAFWImcrkn1utg/s1600/cap003.jpg

    The top of the Burke dress is cut differently, with gigot sleeves (the Wicked Witch has a similar, but less exaggeratedly “poufed” sleeve shape), visible boning in the bodice, and a waistline that goes down into a clear center front point:

    https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U-r8PeHayzY/Vwh6E2prvDI/AAAAAAAAKQI/Vgio-FVGtacYPvBsC3r13mYSrRoDcn2Cg/s1600/Billie_Burke_and_Judy_Garland_The_Wizard_of_Oz_%25281939%2529.jpg

    https://i.imgur.com/E0k7Xas.jpg

    https://media.giphy.com/media/l46CwNmalDZUHJE5y/giphy.gif

    Most importantly, the patterns of beading/sequins/sparkly stuff on the dresses are completely different.

    The MacDonald dress has regularly spaced motifs that are a large solid five-point star with a full-circle sunburst radiating out behind it. You see this all over the skirt, all the way up to the waistline, and one of these motifs is visible on the top between MacDonald’s left breast and the waistline:

    https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n64kMp8eMP0/Vwh6EuugVQI/AAAAAAAAKQE/qBUmktimXwUxKyQXI8vzAFWImcrkn1utg/s1600/cap003.jpg

    This large photo gives a good view of the construction of this motif:

    https://78.media.tumblr.com/650848a3ebcb2b245ac67430165b35b4/tumblr_p3uywxwMtT1uwp6gyo1_1280.jpg

    These motifs are completely absent from Burke’s dress:

    https://i.imgur.com/E0k7Xas.jpg

    https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U-r8PeHayzY/Vwh6E2prvDI/AAAAAAAAKQI/Vgio-FVGtacYPvBsC3r13mYSrRoDcn2Cg/s1600/Billie_Burke_and_Judy_Garland_The_Wizard_of_Oz_%25281939%2529.jpg

    There’s just no way this is the same dress made over. To take one to the other would require about as much work as simply making a new costume from scratch.

    1. I was just noticing the skirt in Camille (tulle with stars) looks very similar as well. Couldn’t tell about the bodice and sleeves.

  7. The “Garbo in ruffles” caption is my favorite ever on this site. It made me wheeze, to the point my boss looked over the cube wall. Thank you!

  8. Loved it almost never historical, ALWAYS AMAZING! Rest in peace Adrian
    P.s. Just one thing the photo you got for the Emperor’s Candlesticks is of Pierre Fresnay and Yvonne Printemps in La Valse de Paris (1949/50) is a nice period drama but has nothing to do with Adrian
    And that pic on Ethel Barrymore made me think you should do a WCW or at least a flick on Empress Alexandra it would probably have FABULOUS costumes

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