Book Review: Gowns by Adrian: The MGM Years 1928-1941
by Howard Gutner


"[A] designer for the screen knows, before he starts his sketch, every experience the wearer of the gown will have. It is his business to dress his character in a manner that will intensify, to an audience, the mood of the scene."

Adrian

This new (November 2001) publication is a lush and comprehensive look at the glory years of costume designer Gilbert Adrian, one of the most talented and influential Hollywood couturiers during the 1930s and 40s. In 1922, as a young man studying design in Paris, Adrian caught the eye of Irving Berlin and began his career designing for the Broadway stage. There his work was admired by Rudolph Valentino and his wife Natacha Rambova, who brought the designer to Hollywood in 1924. One year later, Adrian was hired to design a prologue for the world premiere of Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush, and guessing how auspicious this occasion would be, he created a fabulous Arctic-themed panorama that resulted in five immediate job offers from film studios. Adrian opted to work with producer-director Cecil B. DeMille, beginning an association that would elevate him to legendary status as one of creators of Hollywood screen style.

As well as being a very talented designer, Adrian had a flair for sensing future fashion trends, which he put to good use in his screen creations. Many of his gowns, hats and other creations were widely copied as ready-to-wear garments for the films' audiences, as Hollywood style began to give form to American fashion in the 1930s. In fact, after leaving MGM in 1941, Adrian opened his own business and remained an important couturier until the advent of Dior's "New Look" in 1947. Adrian's influence lives on, however: designers from Balenciaga to Giorgio Armani, Halston to Calvin Klein continue to draw inspiration from Adrian's designs.

Author Howard Gutner has done an admirable and exhaustive job of researching Adrian's career via MGM files, interviews, and other resources. Gowns by Adrian is organized more or less chronologically, with individual chapters devoted to various aspects of the designer's work, including "spectacle films" such as Madam Satan and The Wizard of Oz.

The central section of the book consists of individual chapters on each of the three MGM stars whose screen careers are inextricably connected with the designer -- Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer, followed by a chapter discussing Adrian's costumes for the cast of The Women in 1939, a climax for both the designer and for the star-studded period of MGM filmmaking which ended soon afterward.

Here is where the book really shines. Incorporating Adrian's own descriptions (from interviews or articles written for various magazines) of his creative approach and working relationships with the actresses he clothed, Gutner illuminates the designer's genius for grasping each star's strengths and preferences while confidently using his garments -- line, pattern, fabric, even accessories -- to enhance and sustain characterization onscreen. The numerous and stunning photographs (most of which are previously unpublished) and sketches (Adrian never used a sketch artist, but often produced up to 75 drawings in a day's work) are carefully selected to complement the ideas and processes covered in the text. It makes for totally fascinating reading, and should give any reader a new appreciation for the nuances of film costume design as done by the very best.

Reviewed by Eleanor M. Farrell

Gowns by Adrian: The MGM Years, 1928-1941 by Howard Gutner. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., November 2001. ISBN 0-8109-0898-0, hc, 208 pp., $39.95.


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