Designer Behind Marilyn Monroe’s Iconic Costume and Hollywood Glamour

The costume Marilyn Monroe wore to sing “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy in 1962 has develop into probably the most recognizable clothes in historical past. Far much less well-known is the person who designed it. More than 60 years after Monroe donned the crystal-studded robe, it returned to the headlines when Kim Kardashian borrowed the delicate authentic for the 2022 Met Gala, igniting a fierce debate amongst style historians and conservators.

The man behind the costume was French costume designer Jean Louis. Born Jean Louis Berthault, he dropped his surname in true Hollywood style and went on to form the display screen personas of a few of cinema’s biggest stars, together withRita Hayworth, Joan Crawford, Kim Novak and Monroe.

Now, for the primary time, Louis’ exceptional profession is being informed in full. Jean Louis: Hollywood’s Bombshell Designer (Rizzoli), by brothers and veteran style publicists Roger and Mauricio Padilha, traces the couturier’s journey from Paris to Hollywood, the place he grew to become one of many defining costume designers of the studio period. Along the way in which, he received an Academy Award for his work on the 1956 Judy Holliday comedy The Solid Gold Cadillac.

Featuring a foreword by Novak, whom Louis wearing Pal Joey (1957) and Bell, Book and Candle (1958) earlier than the pair grew to become lifelong mates, the lavishly illustrated quantity explores his collaborations with Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor, Lana Turner, Julie Andrews, Ann-Margret, Gina Lollobrigida and Claudia Cardinale, amongst different legends. It additionally showcases lots of of authentic sketches, images and infrequently seen archival supplies.

While Louis created numerous memorable costumes for the display screen, his legacy stays without end entwined with Monroe’s phantasm robe. So form-fitting that it needed to be sewn instantly onto the actress earlier than she stepped onstage at Madison Square Garden, the costume created the impression of nudity, scandalized audiences in 1962 and without end modified the language of superstar spectacle.

Without it, it’s troublesome to think about Cher’s Bob Mackie-designed barely there take a look at the 1986 Oscars, or Bianca Censori’s headline-grabbing near-nude appearances, or the present naked-dressing crimson carpet pattern. Six many years later, the robe stays a cultural touchstone, promoting for a report $4.8 million at public sale in 2016.

Publishing Sept. 15, the e book makes the case that the oft-married Louis, who died in 1997 at 89, deserves recognition not merely because the designer of Monroe’s most well-known costume, however as one of many principal architects of Hollywood glamour. By the time of his dying, he was married to his fourth spouse, former shopper Loretta Young, the Oscar-winning star of The Farmer’s Daughter.

This story appeared within the Aug. 12 concern of The Hollywood Reporter journal. Click here to subscribe.