Made For Each Other

December 11, 2006
At the first Academy Awards event in 1928, Janet Gaynor had received
\t\t advance word of her "best actress" award for three silent films the year
\t\t before. For the ceremony she wore a store-bought Peter Pan–collared dress,
\t\t but for future events she sought the advice of designer Gilbert Adrian, whom
\t\t she married. In this entertaining look at the history of Academy Award fashion,
\t\t Cosgrove, who covered the Oscars for British Vogue and the BBC, demonstrates that the Gaynor-Adrian
\t\t pairing was the start of many between star designers and actresses—Givenchy
\t\t and Audrey Hepburn, Edith Head and Grace Kelly, Thea van Runkle and Faye
\t\t Dunaway, Scaasi and Streisand, Halston and Liza, Bob Mackie and Cher. Earlier
\t\t screen queens (and their producers and minders) had quickly learned that a
\t\t drop-dead appearance at the awards ceremony led to invaluable glam photos and
\t\t inches in print: Carole Lombard, Vivien Leigh, Garbo and especially
\t\t perfectionist Marlene Dietrich who, after experimenting, turned to Dior.
\t\t Cosgrave could have simply served up a deep dish of anecdotes, gossip and tales
\t\t of rivalry, but she has gone several steps further to deliver a carefully
\t\t researched and footnoted book that belongs in every Hollywood historian's
\t\t library and is sure to be consulted for a long time to come. 90 b&w photos
\t\t and illus., 12-page color insert (not seen by PW).