Mae West: Pretty in Ink

MAE WEST pirouettes through a mirrored corridor of a book called: Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design [NY: HarperCollins, Nov. 2007].
• • The unexceptional froth icing the flap copy reminds the book browser of the obvious: "the most memorable movies all have one thing in common: they rely on the magical transformations rendered by the costume designer." [Yawn! Yawn!] Moreover, the dustcover text reveals that "a movie costume must be more than merely a perfect fit." [Tighten your pace-maker for the finale, you clothes horse.] "Each costume speaks a language all its own, communicating mood, personality, and setting, and propelling the action of the movie as much as a scripted line or synthetic clap of thunder" — — and, yes, we realize you cannot bear much more of this hollow style guile.
• • More than a few acting careers were launched on the basis of an unforgettable costume, and many an era defined by the intuition of a costume designer — — think curvy Mae West in I'm No Angel (Travis Banton, costume designer); Judy Garland in A Star is Born (Jean Louis and Irene Sharaff, costume designers); Diane Keaton in Annie Hall (Ruth Morley, costume designer); or Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark (Deborah Nadoolman Landis, costume designer — — our intrepid author, by jove).
• • "Ah like gowns that are tight enough to show I'm a woman and loose enough to show I'm a lady," proclaimed Mae West (and, yes, this is one of the many quotes dressing up the book).
• • In Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design, Academy Award-nominated costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis [her again] showcases one hundred years of Hollywood's most tantalizing costumes and the characters they helped bring to life.
• • Beverly Hills resident Deborah Nadoolman Landis recently completed her second term as president of the Hollywood Costume Designers Guild, where's she clocked a membership for nearly thirty years. Costume design credits include Animal House, The Blues Brothers, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Three Amigos, and Coming to America, for which she received an Academy Award nomination.
• • Clearly, Edith Head (though lacking formal education) scarfed up far more annual accolades than Landis, who earned a Ph.D. in the history of costume design from the Royal College of Art — — which is telling. Lacking a lengthy red-carpet trail to Oscar ownership, Landis has deliberately tried for her legacy moment here, by fashioning a solid doorstop of a tome [592 pages], as shapely as a laurel wreath.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1934 • •
NYC
Mae West.