The pinnacle (for this viewer), tour-de-force display of the Motion Picture Academy’s “Hollywood Costume,” now on view at LACMA’s May Company building, comes about mid-way through the multi-room exhibition and stretches across a long platform.
“A Royal Romance” features a sumptuous swathe of historic Hollywood costumes that have dressed movie characters of British nobility — and that includes a whole lotta ‘Liz’beths.
Costumes for the upper-crust film include (costume designer name in bold):
- ORLANDO (1992) Queen Elizabeth I (Quentin Crisp) Sandy Powell
- ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE (2007) Queen Elizabeth I (Cate Blanchett) Alexandra Byrne
- THE VIRGIN QUEEN (1955) Queen Elizabeth I (Bette Davis) Mary Wills
- SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998) Queen Elizabeth I (Judi Dench) Sandy Powell
- SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998) Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow) Sandy Powell
- SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998) Will Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) Sandy Powell
- QUEEN CHRISTINA (1933) Christina of Sweden (Greta Garbo) Adrian
- DANGEROUS LIAISONS (1988) Marquise de Merteuil (Glenn Close) James Acheson
- MARIE ANTOINETTE (1938) Marie Antoinette (Norma Shearer) Adrian
- MARIE ANTOINETTE (2006) Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst) Milena Canonero
- BARRY LYNDON (1975) Lady Honoria Lyndon (Marisa Berenson) Milena Canonero, Ulla–Britt Söderlund
- CAMELOT (1967) Guinevere (Vanessa Redgrave) John Truscott
[We’re pleased to include arts·meme friend and reader James Acheson in the Royal Liste.]
This exhibition explores the central role of costume design–from the glamorous to the very subtle–as an essential tool of cinematic storytelling. Co presented by the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Hollywood Costume is curated by Deborah Nadoolman Landis, Academy Award-nominated costume designer and founding director of UCLA’s David C. Copley Center for the Study of Costume Design with Sir Christopher Frayling (Professor Emeritus of Cultural History, Royal College of Art), and set and costume designer and V&A Assistant Curator Keith Lodwick.
Hollywood Costume | Wilshire May Company Building | thru March 15, 2015