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

Andrew Hansford (Author), Karen Homer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2012

William Travilla is one of the best costume designers of all time and Marilyn Monroe his most famous client. Dressing Marilyn: How a Hollywood Icon Was Styled by William Travilla focuses on the striking dresses that Travilla designed for Marilyn, from his early work on the thriller Don't Bother to Knock and the gorgeous pink dress in which Marilyn sang "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" to the legendary white dress from The Seven Year Itch, which arguably contributed to the collapse of Marilyn's marriage to Joe DiMaggio. Featuring Travilla's original sketches, rare costume test shots, dress patterns, photographs of Marilyn wearing the dresses, plus exclusive and never-before-seen extracts from interviews with Travilla, this book offers a fresh insight into the golden age of Hollywood.

Editorial Reviews

Review

It's difficult to find a new way to examine an iconic figure, especially one as popular as Marilyn Monroe, but Dressing Marilyn by Andrew Hansford manages to do precisely that. In cataloging the costumes created for Monroe by designer William Travilla, Dressing Marilyn brings together rare photographs, sketches, and interviews in a book that will be of interest not only to tried-and-true fans, but to fashion aficionados as well. Monroe's iconic clothing is such that just reading Hansford s table of contents which includes the chapters The Red Dress, The Gold Dress, The Pink Dress, and The White Dress is enough to conjure the garments to which he's referring; images immediately pop to mind. The narrative is two-fold: there's the story of Marilyn's clothes and the story of her relationship with Travilla, the man who made them. It's a fascinating new angle on Monroe, who has always been more famous for the body her clothes were (barely) covering than for her fashion sense. Despite their iconicity, her clothes haven't been associated with a particular designer, a circumstance that comes in great contrast to many of the stars of the time. Audrey Hepburn and Hubert Givenchy, Grace Kelly and Edith Head, and even Jacqueline Kennedy and Oleg Cassini all famously had long-term collaborations. Dressing Marilyn goes a long way toward filling that gap in Monroe's history detailing the friendship that arose between William Travilla and Monroe during the decade that he dressed her. Perhaps the most fascinating element of Dressing Marilyn is the attention to the details of the clothes themselves, thus the need for entire chapters on single dresses. The chapter on the The Pink Dress from Gentleman Prefer Blondes, for instance, includes images of a fabric swatch, an early sketch featuring black gloves, a later sketch with the pink gloves that were ultimately used, and most uniquely close-ups on the details of the dress itself, including the bow, the belt, and the back closure. An entire half-page is dedicated to a photograph illustrating the invisible wire that held the enormous bow in place. It's this attention to detail that sets Dressing Marilyn apart from the scores of photography books about her and makes it a must read, especially for the style savvy. --ForeWord Magazine

About the Author

Andrew Hansford manages Travilla's archive and was responsible for the 2008 Travilla exhibition. He has lectured to fashion students on Travilla and his work.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Applause (April 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557838461
• ISBN-13: 978-1557838469
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #26 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( M ) > Monroe, Marilyn
  • #77 in Books > Arts & Photography > Fashion > Designers

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A book worthy of Marilyn.... March 8, 2012

By D. Evangelista

Amazon Verified Purchase

I ordered this book wanting to know more about William Travilla,Marilyn's costume designer for many of her films and was not disapointed. First, this is not a large coffee table book, but it is a nice size that easily fits in your hands. The design of the book is beautiful,with great full-lenth photo's of Marilyn in each costume as "test" shots for the studio. There are close-up photo's of the costumes. And Travilla's sketches of the costumes. Yes,there are some typos and some errors but it doesn't detract from the general appeal of this book. It is wonderful to see these photo's and the costumes close up . I kept going back to the book just to leaf through the photo's and the details of the costumes. Also there are sketches that Travilla did for Marilyn some time before her death,which never got to be actualised, are for the movie "The Stripper" which was made with Joanne Woodward,after Marilyn's death. You can look at these drawings and wonder "How would she have looked in these costumes?" She transformed everything she wore,and Travilla knew her body better then any designer. This book is a very good introduction to William Travilla and his work ,I just wish there were more photo's and more information and details. Overall a very good book for the price $19.95?! I say buy it ,its good fashion history and Marilyn info.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars in depth exploration of some of the most iconic dresses in world April 12, 2012

By suelambourn

A fascinating book. Great to read about an aspect of Marilyn's life and friendships in real depth - not just another glossy overview. Another different angle on Marilyn when everyone thought all had been covered. I found it an interesting read and discovered no typos or errors in grammar - maybe previous reviewers are not used to reading UK english? I loved the way the book was written in such a personal way - who needs yet another dry pseudo historical analysis?

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, though in need of editing. February 28, 2012

By Nineteen Fifty Four

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a great volume of photographs and documents and information regarding William Travilla, who designed most of Marilyn Monroe's most famous costumes for the films in which she starred; however, the book is unfortunately riddled with errors of grammar and punctuation; it could have taken a good once-over by an editor before printing in mass quantities. Also, there are a few factual errors too -- a photo of Marilyn and Lurene Tuttle from Don't Bother to Knock (1952) is labeled as Marilyn and Anne Bancroft. So, the photos and information and quotes from Travilla are interesting, but so many errors makes me wonder what else is published here in error.