Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design
From the lavish productions of Hollywood's Golden Age through the high-tech blockbusters of today, the most memorable movies all have one thing in common: they rely on the magical transformations rendered by the costume designer. Whether spectacular or subtle, elaborate or barely there, a movie costume must be more than merely a perfect fit. Each costume speaks a language all its own, communicating mood, personality, and setting, and propelling the action of the movie as much as a scripted...
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From the lavish productions of the 1930s to the extravagance of the 1980s and the blockbusters of the '90s, Hollywood's most memorable movie moments all have one thing in common-visually stunning costume design. Whether spectacular or subtle, elaborate or barely there, costumes must be more than merely a perfect fit; they speak a language all their own, communicating mood, personality, and setting, and propelling the action of the movie as much as a scripted line or synthetic clap of thunder. More than a few careers have been launched from costumes alone, and many an era defined by the intuition of a costume designer-think Charlie Chaplin in The Little Tramp, Judy Garland in A Star Is Born, Diane Keaton in Annie Hall, Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones. In Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design, Oscar-nominated costume designer Deborah Landis presents 100 years of Hollywood's most tantalizing wardrobes. With a foreword from Academy Award winner Anjelica Huston, this limited edition book, signed by the author and impeccably designed, is a flawless showcase of each decade of Hollywood history. Featuring 300 high-quality photographs and scores of original sketches-many in color, and seen here for the first time, Dressed is part glossy lookbook, part insightful guide to the costumer's art-and this exquisite collector's edition, the one book no film and fashion lover will want to be without. The Barnes & Noble Review In her closing acknowledgments to the eye-popping, nostalgic, and historically expansive archive that is Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design, author and accomplished costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis calls her baby "the most comprehensive book available on Hollywood costume design." Perusing over 600 pages containing over 800 images, plus commentary, the reader is hardly inclined to dispute her. This book shines unprecedented illumination on an underrated yet indispensable part of the cinema s magic, using a methodology both simple and powerful. Landis pairs shots of actors in iconic or representative costumes (supplemented by revelatory designer sketches) with relevant quotations, aimed at elucidating the arcane parameters and exigencies of each particular design and the mysteries of the craft as a whole. The eye is drawn, again and again, to the subtle effects and craftsmanly decision making that underlie each item of clothing. Many of the images are famous -- Theda Bara as Cleopatra; Marilyn Monroe on the sidewalk grating; Brando as the Godfather; Uma Thurman as a tracksuit-clad assassin -- but Landis eschews stale iconography in favor of striking imagery from both well- and little-known films. She s also is a fan of the plain and understated as well as the elaborate: the migrant simplicity of The Grapes of Wrath earns a majestic two-page spread. Considered as a story, Dressed follows a surprisingly natural arc: rude beginnings, followed by a Golden Age, a Silver Age, a shabby decline, and a partial revitalization. Threaded with reverence and regret, pride and anger, astonishment and humor, Landis s book honors her trade and her unsung peers. --Paul DiFilippo
