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Thread: Adrian - Costume Designer

  1. #1
    SistaSara Guest

    Adrian - Costume Designer

    Adrian (costume designer)




    Costumes designed by Adrian in George Cukor's 1939 film, The Women


    Adrian Adolph Greenberg (March 3, 1903 â?? September 13, 1959) most widely known as Adrian, was a Hollywood costume designer whose most famous costumes were for The Wizard of Oz and other Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films of the 1930s and 1940s. During his career, he designed costumes for over 250 films and his screen credits usually read as "Gowns by Adrian". On occasion, he was credited as Gilbert Adrian, a combination of his father's forename and his own.

    Biography


    Early life

    Adrian was born on March 3, 1903 in Naugatuck, Connecticut to Jewish immigrant parents Gilbert and Helena (Pollack) Greenburg. He attended the New York School for Fine and Applied Arts (now Parsons School of Design). In 1922, he transferred to NYSFAA's Paris campus and while there was hired by Irving Berlin. Adrian then designed the costumes for Berlin's The Music Box Revue.

    Career

    Adrian was hired as the head costume designer for Cecil B. DeMille's independent film studio. In 1928, Cecil B. DeMille moved temporarily to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Adrian was hired as chief costume designer at the studio. While DeMille eventually returned to Paramount, Adrian stayed on at MGM. In his career at that studio, Adrian designed costumes for over 200 films. During this time, Adrian worked with some of the biggest female stars of the day like Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, Jeanette MacDonald, Jean Harlow, Katharine Hepburn and Joan Crawford. He worked with Crawford 28 times, Shearer 18 and Harlow 9. He worked with Garbo over the course of most of her career.[1] Adrian was behind Crawford's signature outfits with large shoulderpads, which later spawned a fashion trend.

    The original Adrian-designed ruby slippers used in The Wizard of Oz; now on display at the Smithsonian.


    Adrian was most famous for his evening gown designs for these actresses, a talent exemplified in The Women. The Women (1939), filmed in black and white, originally included a 10-minute fashion parade in Technicolor, which featured Adrian's most outré designs; often cut in TV screenings, it has been restored to the film by Turner Classic Movies. Adrian was also well-known for his extravagant costumes (as in The Great Ziegfeld) and opulent (if not historically accurate) period dresses such as those for Camille and Marie Antoinette.
    Adrian is perhaps best known today for his work on the 1939 movie classic, The Wizard of Oz. Adrian custom-designed the film's signature red-sequined ruby slippers for Judy Garland.

    Later life

    Adrian left MGM in 1941 to set up his own independent fashion house, though he still worked closely with Hollywood. Though he was openly gay, he married Janet Gaynor in 1939, possibly in response to the anti-gay attitudes of the movie studio heads and the sex-negative atmosphere created by the Production Code.[2] They retired to their ranch in Brazil and remained married until his death in 1959. He only returned to MGM for a final film, 1952's Lovely to Look At. Despite his success, Adrian was never nominated for an Academy Award. He came out of his retirement and returned to the States in 1959 to design the costumes for the upcoming Broadway musical Camelot. In the early stages of this project, Adrian died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 56.

  2. #2
    SistaSara Guest

  3. #3
    Vamp Guest
    I remember reading about Janet Gaynor and Adrian's "lavender" marriage. There were a lot of them in early Hollywood.

  4. #4
    SistaSara Guest
    Some people say it was an arranged marriage as Adrian was a known homosexual.

  5. #5
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    and VERY talented!
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]peek-a-boo!!

  6. #6
    Vamp Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by SistaSara View Post
    Some people say it was an arranged marriage as Adrian was a known homosexual.
    At least Janet got great clothes out of the marriage.

  7. #7
    SistaSara Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Vamp View Post
    At least Janet got great clothes out of the marriage.
    plus he was pretty good lookin too:

    he is responsible for making Joan Crawford's shoulders look good.
    Last edited by SistaSara; 07-31-2008 at 09:02 PM.

  8. #8
    1karenhb Guest
    Several years ago at the L. A. County Museum of Art there was an exhibit of some of his clothes. They were gorgeous!

  9. #9
    Sam Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by SistaSara View Post
    plus he was pretty good lookin too:

    he is responsible for making Joan Crawford's shoulders look good.
    Right on both accounts! Joan wouldn't have been Joan without him.
    I seem to remember a story where Cukor screamed at Joan when she was doing the screen test for "Mildred Pierce" for wearing those G** D*** Adrian shoulder pads and Joan explained in tears that she'd bought the dress at Sears.

  10. #10
    sweetie103 Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by 1karenhb View Post
    Several years ago at the L. A. County Museum of Art there was an exhibit of some of his clothes. They were gorgeous!
    Too bad I didn't know about it. I would have loved to have gone and seen the exhibit.

  11. #11
    1karenhb Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by sweetie103 View Post
    Too bad I didn't know about it. I would have loved to have gone and seen the exhibit.
    I didn't know about it either. Went there to see another exhibit and then saw the Adrian show advertised there. Cost extra but well worth it. I still have the pamphlet from the exhibit.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sam View Post
    Right on both accounts! Joan wouldn't have been Joan without him.
    I seem to remember a story where Cukor screamed at Joan when she was doing the screen test for "Mildred Pierce" for wearing those G** D*** Adrian shoulder pads and Joan explained in tears that she'd bought the dress at Sears.
    That's odd considering that in the opening scene of CRAWFORD in the (finished) film she's wearing a fur coat with shoulders the size of Shea Stadium. She also wore 'big shoulders' through much of the movie.







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  13. #13
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    p.s. Do you know which famous (then) child star's father had an affair with ADRIAN in the late 1940s ?
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  14. #14
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    these were the actual shoulder pads worn by joan, designed by adrian, for mildred fierce:

    pull the string!

  15. #15
    Curtis Radiohead Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Vamp View Post
    I remember reading about Janet Gaynor and Adrian's "lavender" marriage. There were a lot of them in early Hollywood.
    I was thinking the same thing. Did you know that they actually had a child together? Quite interesting...

  16. #16
    Curtis Radiohead Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by KELT View Post
    p.s. Do you know which famous (then) child star's father had an affair with ADRIAN in the late 1940s ?
    Hope. What is the answer?

  17. #17
    Curtis Radiohead Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by SistaSara View Post
    Some people say it was an arranged marriage as Adrian was a known homosexual.
    I think it was a little of both "arraigned" and possibly, love. They did stay together until his death and they had a child together. They were definitely good friends, at the very least!

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Curtis Radiohead View Post
    Hope. What is the answer?
    FRANCIS TAYLOR, father of ELIZABETH (TAYLOR)

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  19. #19
    Noelle Page Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by KELT View Post
    FRANCIS TAYLOR, father of ELIZABETH (TAYLOR)

    That explains a lot. Similar thing with Judy Garland, I believe.

  20. #20
    SistaSara Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Curtis Radiohead View Post
    I think it was a little of both "arraigned" and possibly, love. They did stay together until his death and they had a child together. They were definitely good friends, at the very least!
    and they are also buried side by side at Hollywood Forever. So I think you're right...that was def. some love there. It's just they both liked to....

  21. #21
    Morrissey Guest
    He did such amazing work... I've seen all of the movies in which he designed for Crawford.

    The last movie I watched he did costumes for was Grand Hotel. (Watched it the other night...)

  22. #22
    Glamrock Princess Guest

    Talking

    Quote Originally Posted by hell0kitty View Post
    these were the actual shoulder pads worn by joan, designed by adrian, for mildred fierce:


    ha ha ha ha ha, love it

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