Costume and fashion designer Adrian Adolph Greenberg 1903-1959 Aka Gilbert Adrian (1921-1959 fashion life) By Adrian Anderson Famous costume and fashion designer Adrian Greenberg later known as Gilbert Adrian where he took his father’s first name and his father made his sons first name his last. He also was credited on films as Gowns by Adrian.

Show man Born 1903 in Connecticut, he went to Parsons The school for design in New York from there he started He started his career on broadway in plays/musicals like Irving Berlin’s The Music Box Revue and George White’s Scandals from there he went into film. He worked on costumes for 200 movies in these films he designed for stars like Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, Jeanette MacDonald, Jean Harlow, Katharine Hepburn, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland. He was openly bisexual married Actress Janet Gaynor and remained married to her til his death in 1959, they had one child Robin in1940.

World issues into fashions He flourished during WWII While he was making beautiful clothes in his shop after working on the fashions for the silver screen, others were out fighting WWII doing what his creativity always brought him to he started making the outfits women would wear to work look as the clothes being worn in war, this was also true for when it came to Adrian making period pieces for films he wouldn’t exactly take to history to make designs mirror the films time he would put his own modern twisted to the costumes. Which cause a lot of he’s movie fashions to be hits in the real world even before the film was viewed by the public

Fashion of the times Against Corset waist of “New Look” Look of the period (1940s) Against Corset waist of “New Look” Stayed with one silhouette throughout career Pill box hat/Slouch hat made fashion by movie ~Adrian’s signature look in the 1940s became so widespread, that it is often remembered as the look of the period padded shoulders, slim jacket with details that emphasized the shoulder and the triangular line and a pencil skirt. He often added or cut in different details on one sleeve than the other with his suits, each suit was tailor made from start to finish by one tailor, meaning one person did all the work for the suit he was making, instead of having a stable of stitchers passing them along.,. ~ His long draped and beaded evening gowns were another dominant style. When the New Look came, He was very opposed to the corseted waist of the New Look Adrian stayed with his 1940s silhouette, lengthening the hems, but keeping the square shoulders. ~ Adrian used a wide variety of themes with flair: manipulated stripes, trompe-l’oeil effects, contrasting fabrics and colors, beading, ethnic Spanish and Persian motifs, animals, even Gothic themes.

Fashion of the times ~Greta Garbo’s slouch hat and trench coat were sold cross country. ~One of his Signature tailored suits ~Greta Garbo also wore one of his little pill box hats in As You Desire Me and an Eugenie hat from Romance

Famous fashion history Dorothy's ruby shoes “The Wizard of Oz” Letty’s knock off’s “Letty Lynton” Pajama’s as formal wear “The Single Standard” A lot of Adrian’s designs have been made famous by the movies he designed for One movie that is known and loved by all is “The Wizard Of Oz” Adrian drew 3,210 sketches for this movie and although he loved the story growing up he wanted to change one thing about what the author put in the story. The shoes That were silver in the book he(adrian) change them to Red to ruby red then added sequence. ~ Adrian also had another famous design well at least in the time it was made. Today we wouldn’t be caught dead in such a thing not even for a wedding but at the time the Dress that Joan Crawford wore as her Character Letty Lynton in a movie of the same name had been such a crowd favorite that 500,000 knock off’s/copies were made of the dress ~ Now and then fashion Adrian designed a formal pajama look for Greta in the movie “The Single Standard” and now you see celebs wearing these types of looks on the red carpet.

Famous Fashion Adrian worked on MGM films from 1928-1941 came back to the company at 1950 to work on one last movie for them. The most sketches he’s ever done for any movie was The Wizard of Oz. Thanks to the Munchkins

Famous Fashion This lovely poofy mess is the dress that got knocked off 500,00 0 times most likely for women getting married, another one of Adrian’s well copied looks wasn’t from a movie but his maternity smock for his wife Janet Gaynor was copied everywhere for years and years.

Famous Fashion Then: Adrian standing with one of his Starlets Greta Garbo on set. Now: Rhianna and Jessica Alba on the red carpet for their films

Every Woman’s form From movies to retail Modern world, War, Culture Inspired to make women look great no matter the shape At his peak as head costume designer at MGM his looks for the film goddesses influenced how women wanted to look throughout the modern world. He proved that a woman could look good without needing a perfect figure. For the first time, even the Paris couture emulated his looks and those of the other Hollywood designers. And American women entering the workplace for the first time took their fashion cues from Adrian-dressed stars like Joan Crawford. When Adrian left MGM and opened his own business as the U.S. entered WWII,. People did not give him fashion designer recognition (still being seen as just a costume designer) but he went on to open another in New York which helped him succeed in using his endless creativity in the designs for his couture and ready-to-wear business. His attraction to contrast and polarity, his myriad uses of beauty, his centered design philosophy, ethnic influences, and his keen wit, informed most of his design. Adrian closed his own business rather than have any other designer involved, and his name was almost forgotten.

Last look Adrian died in 1959 of a heart attack on his ranch in brazil with his and their son Robin by his side. In the pictures Greta then a munkin

References BOOKS SITES http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_(costume_designer) http://blog.rubylane.com/Adrian+Adolph+Greenberg++-+The+Man+Behind+the+Curtain+-+Glamorous+Fashion+Gowns http://vintagefashionguild.org/fashion-history/adrian/ http://movies.nytimes.com/person/79094/Adrian/biography BOOKS Adrian: Silver Screen to Custom Label by: Christian Esquevin Gowns by Adrian : The MGM Years 1928-1941 By: Howard Gutner