A Brief History of Hollywood Costume Design

[Music] [Applause] Hollywood Costume in the 1890s film making begins in the US in New York costume design was often the responsibility of the actors themselves so during this time there wasn't any actual Studio EX Executives it didn't have its own section in film making so during this time if an actor wanted a role in a film they would have to come dressed as that character so if you were a housemid you had to be dressed as a housemade whatever your character was that was the character you came dressed as and based on that and your acting that would heighten your chances of being cast in a role that did benefit people and women that had vast wardrobes however those actresses who did not have those the access to that kind of wardrobe unfortunately often did not get those roles so it often went to those who already had access to a huge wardrobe and they had a better chance of having access to the costume that was required for the shoot film producer Adolf zukar introduces the concept of costuming so he turns costuming into a creative aspect and a creative part of the filming process now the second person that began to introduce the idea of C costume designing was the director DW grii he introduced the practice of creating costumes specifically for americanmade films so overseas in Paris and those other places they already had started to begin to introduce those Concepts so DW Griffith begin to introduce the concepts for americanmade films so these two people began to create the budding ideas of what costume design would eventually become today so we we can credit those two individuals with costume designing and its origins in producing films and making sure that the films were authentic down to the costumes that they were so one of them made sure that the film's designer concept was something that was seen as a creative artist so someone who was a part of even as you're doing the story lines for a movie they wanted to make sure that the costumes match the movie so think about some of your favorite movies that you've seen over the years some of the things we remember about those movies are the beautiful clothes within the movies for me The Great Gatsby both versions were just breathtaking examples of how important costuming is to a film because I remember that more than anything me more than the plotline more than the characters I remember just some of these very beautiful well done pieces and by the 1920s costume design becomes a normal part of the filming and budget process so now they have to factor it in so now they saying okay we need to hire a staff we need to hire a group of people that's going to be able to make a lot of these pieces come to life so it becomes added to a part of the budget so no longer is it the responsibility of the auditioning actors to come up with the pieces for the film now they have a whole team that they're assembling to create these pieces for the film so what is a costume designer well a costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a Film Production TV show focusing on heat periods or moments in time so again costuming is Hollywood costuming is essentially coming together saying what period are we talking about what period are we focusing on what elements of that period do we want to make sure comes across on screen whether it's through TV show whether it's through film film imagine watching uh your favorite TV show that set in Hollywood in the 1920s and everyone is wearing their normal everyday 2020 clothing it'd be hard to get into a a movie or a show like that especially since the 1920s were known as such an opul time would you want to watch something that essentially had people in jeans and a t-shirt so that just kind of of once again pushes forth the idea that costuming and making making sure the pieces were appropriate to that period in time was so vital and important to the film industry one of the first designers to sort of get on the bandwagon as we would say to cosm was remember him Paul poror so he was someone we discussed in previous lessons he was one of those featured Couture designers that we talked about if you have not yet been able to access that video or have a look at it I encourage you to go I go through great detail about who he was what were key elements of his designs key features so I would definitely recommend you going back there to really understand how um amazing it was that pureet participated in pioneering sort of the film costuming portion of his career his initial designs were a part of the film The French film the loves of Queen Elizabeth those images from that French film and you can see how absolutely breathtaking that design is and again kind of picture what would that film have looked like if an actor themselves had to come up with the costume themselves maybe they could have gone to a seamstress but it just goes to show you how having someone that will definitely Elevate the look to something that is more memorable on screen it would come as no surprise then that once you start introducing Couture designers to participating in in costuming that it would begin to usher in a very glamorous opulent time for Hollywood a time that we call the Golden Age of Hollywood now this is one of my favorite times in Hollywood when I think about Hollywood and I think about old Hollywood glamour this is definitely something that attracted me to designing and fashion I wanted to create gowns like that I wanted to create these very elaborate glamorous pieces that I often saw in the movies that's what sort of attracted me especially at a very young age to the designing process was I always knew that I wanted to create really intricate beautiful over-the-top one would say designs when I did start creating pieces so the Golden Age of Hollywood Cinema was from the 1910s to the 1960s and when we think about the Golden Age of Hollywood we think about pin curls red lipstick see that I have attach a PDF illustration of some of the key features in the old Hollywood the Golden Age of Hollywood design and you'll see that added the red lips the feather boas the sequin gowns and it just goes into a greater detail illustration of what that looked like so if you were to recreate that these are some of the elements that you want to make sure your design has if you're trying to recreate that old Hollywood look now some of those icons from that time that we'll remember that their legacy essentially lives on because they were such a huge part of the golden age of Hollywood Marilyn Monroe of course she had many many films during that time Gentlemen Prefer blonde 7year itch so she had quite a few films that elevated her to stardom of course Judy Garland we know her from The Wizard of Oz Lauren ball she was also also in a lot of film she's most notable known to be with Humphrey bogar who was another huge actor during that time Jane mansfi was another actor I don't know many of the films that she was in we also have Grace Kelly princess of Monaco she was in also in quite a few films one of the most notable is Alfred Hitchcock films I believe the rear window is one of those films Grace Kelly is a fashion icon in her own right a lot of people were inspired by a lot of the pieces that she wore even most recently Kate Middleton her wedding gown if you are able to do some side by side photos of those two designs you'll see that they have similarities inspired by Grace Kelly's wedding gown so again she was a fashion icon in her own right we also have Jean harlo another uh Vixen of her time and Elizabeth Taylor who is probably the most recent and the most one of the most familiar as well she was in many many films one of them being Cleopatra so these are some of the icons from that period obviously there are many many more but I just chose to sort of pluck out these few gals so that you are able to see that if you go back and look into some of the photos why they were such large representations of the golden age of Hollywood they completed the looks with the red lipstick the voluptuous shapes the sweeping soft curled hair the satin gowns they sort of epitomize what the Golden Age of Hollywood look like thanks for watching be sure to like and Subscribe videos are uploaded weekly covering dress making fashion lectures and more

Channel: LAIDIECLOTH U

Views: 4,635

Keywords: Fashion, Fashion design, Sewing, DIY Sewing, Fashion Sketches, Dressmaking

Id: uq_pfy1BZ8Q

Length: 9min 48sec (588 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 01 2023