Hollywood Glamour: Adrian

By Amy Zerner

2 minute 10/12/2011

I was watching a Greta Garbo film last night. “The Painted Veil“, and saw in the credits that the beautiful clothes were designed by Adrian. Hollywood has always had a strong tradition of having amazing costume designers, such as the incredible Adrian (he designed the costumes for The Wizard of Oz and many, many other films) Adrian is best known for his costume design work for MGM from 1928 through 1941. Adrian’s reputation skyrocketed, as he also dressed Joan Crawford, Myrna Loy, Norma Shearer, and Jean Harlow. His name is synonymous with Hollywood glamour, which, in turned, helped define high American style. He is probably one of the most famous alumni of Parson’s School of design in New York city.

A quote from Adrian:

“It was because of Garbo that I left M-G-M. In her last picture they wanted to make her a sweater girl, a real American type. I said, ‘When the glamour ends for Garbo, it also ends for me. She has created a type. If you destroy that illusion, you destroy her.’ When Garbo walked out of the studio, glamour went with her, and so did I.”

In 1942, he started his own fashion label with great success and it continued until he closed his salon in 1952. With clean feminine lines & subtle yet interesting details, his work was truly wearable art.

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