Dressing Marilyn: How a Hollywood icon was styled by William Travilla

Dressing Marilyn: How a Hollywood Icon Was Styled by William Travilla

By Andrew Hansford with Karen Homer

(Applause Theatre & Cinema Books)

What I found unique about this book was not the abundant photographs, or costume illustrations depicting a glamorous Marilyn – that was to be expected. What I didn’t expect was the level to which that glamor was removed, and the details of the real objects described and illustrated. Author Andrew Hansford is the manager of the William Travilla archive, and like a true archivist, is interest lies in the ‘state of the artifact’.

A typical detail layout from Dressing Marilyn by Andrew Hansford

It’s a gem of a book for anyone interested in the real objects of popular culture: depicting not only the beautiful ‘idealized’ garments, but also the state they are in today, including rips, stains, holes, and even lipstick marks. Most books that include collection images don’t include what goes on the condition reports. For this alone, I love this book.

Dressing Marilyn begins with a biography of designer William Travilla, who created costumes for Marilyn onscreen and off, and follows with two+ page spreads on seven of Marilyn’s most famous film costumes, followed by two smaller sections titled ‘personal dresses’ and ‘further classics’. Each of the seven costumes is explored and discussed in-depth, both photographically as well as with historical research, documentation,

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2 Comments

  1. Thank you for bringing this to our attention! As “makers”, members of the American Sewing Guild love to peek inside historical garments to see construction details and such.

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