As mentioned in this post, FIDM Museum staff are constantly engaged in collection oriented research. Currently, Christina Johnson (Collections Manager) and Kevin Jones (Curator) are at the Fashion & Materiality symposium hosted by the Centre for Fashion Studies at Stockholm University in Stockholm, Sweden. Click on the link above for more information on the conference and the other presenters. Today's post consists of their respective presentation abstracts and images. Enjoy!
“In my case the face was created.”1 Fashion and Identity in the Life of Marlene Dietrich
by Christina Johnson
Marlene
Dietrich was married to the same man for over fifty years. She did not
gain notoriety in Hollywood until age thirty. She was a mother and
grandmother. She was self-conscious to the point of obsession regarding
her perceived bodily imperfections. She was a recluse for the last ten
years of her life. She longed to be accepted, admired, and loved. These
personal facts are in direct opposition to Dietrich’s public identity.
She was a bisexual siren with multiple lovers. She was a self-assured
woman who took pride in showcasing a “perfect” body, eternally youthful
and beautiful. She basked in the admiration and awe bestowed upon her
from legions of fans and friends. A glamorous public identity was
materialized by Marlene Dietrich through her appearance.
This
paper will study fashion and identity in the life of Marlene Dietrich
focusing on a rare group of her garments and accessories from the FIDM
Museum in Los Angeles. This significant collection is comprised of over
fifty personal wardrobe and movie costume ensembles in addition to
twenty pairs of custom shoes donated by Dietrich to a now-defunct
museum from 1964 to 1966 before arriving at the FIDM Museum in 1990.
These pieces date from her early career in Berlin, her Hollywood years,
USO tours, and stage performances.
Snapshot of Marlene Dietrich during her USO tour
1944-45
Museum Purchase
Marlene
Dietrich purchased this paisley gown in Los Angeles in the early 1940s
and wore it frequently, as evidenced by the many extant photographs.
During her 1944-45 USO tour, she was photographed wearing the gown
onstage, as seen in the snapshot above. Dietrich also wore the gown in
the 1948 film, A Foreign Affair. The image below shows how this illustrious gown is stored at the FIDM Museum.
Gown worn by Marlene Dietrich
Irene
c. 1941
Department of Recreation and Parks, City of Los Angeles, FIDM Museum
INV. 3633
This embellished jacket was part of Dietrich's personal wardrobe.
Evening Jacket worn by Marlene Dietrich
Travis Banton/Howard Greer
c. 1936
Department of Recreation and Parks, City of Los Angeles, FIDM Museum
INV. 1137
Detail of INV. 1137
Hollywood Scandal! : Edith Head and Celanese “Star in Crepe”
by Kevin Jones
This
is a convoluted story of eleven dresses in the FIDM Museum’s Hollywood
Costume Collection. The collection came as a loan to FIDM in 1990 from
the City of Los Angeles, California, after being stored in an abandoned
city jail for more than twenty years. Many of the garments have been
exhibited around the world as authentic; half of these gowns, though,
are spurious. While dressing the costumes for an exhibition, it was
noticed that some of them did not look as they appeared in publicity
stills. Were these the same garments? Had they been altered? A detailed
analysis of the gowns ensued. The gowns’ provenance, though, proved to
be the thriller of this drama.
In 1960, the rayon
manufacturer Celanese teamed with Paramount Pictures costume designer
Edith Head to launch a new material called “Star in Crepe” by
showcasing eleven original “Golden Era” crepe gowns in fashion shows in
the United States, with contemporary interpretations of the garments to
inspire consumers to purchase the new material so they too could dress
like a star. The first fashion show was held at The Plaza Hotel in New
York. Thereafter, identical copies of the gowns and their
interpretations were worn in fashion shows around the country. Later,
the costumes were donated to Hollywood Museum Associates, an organization
planning a museum of Los Angeles movie history. The copy gowns were
donated to various other institutions. By 1968, Hollywood Museum Associates was
defunct, bailed out of debt by the City of Los Angeles who twenty years
later loaned the eleven gowns to the FIDM Museum.
Which
famous dresses are these? Who were the movie queens wearing such
beautiful creations? Have any of the original dresses survived? Stay
tuned for the ending to this most dramatic Hollywood Scandal!
Sketch of the gown worn by Greta Garbo in the film Inspiration
Gilbert Adrian design for Greta Garbo in Inspiration, 1931
Modern Screen Magazine, March 1931
Image courtesy of Richard Atkins
FIDM Museum
Actual gown worn by Greta Garbo in Inspiration
Gilbert Adrian for Greta Garbo in Inspiration, 1931
Silk velvet and rhinestones
Image courtesy of the Drexel University Historic Costume Collection, PA
Gift of Mrs. Thomas E. Burns Jr., 76-1-1ab
Photography by Dave Gehosky
Image courtesy of the Drexel Digital Museum Project , http://digimuse.cis.drexel.edu
Fake version of the gown worn by Greta Garbo in Inspiration, created in 1961.
Fake by Edith Head for Celanese Corp., 1961
Representing Greta Garbo in "Inspiration," 1931
Department of Recreation and Parks, City of Los Angeles, FIDM Museum
Image of model wearing fake Inspiration gown in 1961 fashion show.
Fake gown by Edith Head for Celanese Corp., 1961
Representing Greta Garbo in Inspiration, 1931
Model wearing the costume for a Celanese Fashion Show,
1962
Department of Recreation and Parks, City of Los Angeles, FIDM Museum
1 Dietrich, Marlene. Marlene. trans. Salvatore Attanasio. New York: Grove Press, 1989.
