Glamour of Hollywood (Apr 1939 - May 1941 (assorted issues))

«XAHOU£ ARCHITECT His clothes for Bette Davis are all over the place, these days. You may see the rich ele¬ gance of his costumes for her in “Juarez”, or the crisp modern chic of the things she wears in “Dark Victory”. He is well-remembered for the enchantingly romantic things he designed for the same star’s “Jezebel”, and here on these four pages we give you a glimpse of the beautiful cos¬ tumes he has designed for both Davis and Miriam Hopkins in the Warner picture “The Old Maid”. He is Orry-Kelly, designer, magician, his¬ torian. Because of these abilities, and particular¬ ly because of his more recent work, Ave call him “glamour architect”. However he may describe it, we see in his clothes-designing a practical, al¬ most architectural approach to glamour. His record is one of designing not so much for camera magnificence (although his work has never lacked that), as for the woman, the star who is to wear his clothes. Always and above the important considerations of the camera and of suitability has come his attention to the clothesneeds of the star. He designs the kind of things to make a woman confident of her chic, superbly sure of her figure . . . clothes that inevitably aid her in giving a fine performance. This, we feel, warrants the title, glamour architect. As a designer, and a very fine one, OrryKelly has been famous for many years. His clothes have a certain distinction not always associated with the camera. Where camera-wise clothes usu¬ ally dispense with the subtleties of drapery and fine detail in order to achieve tremendous effect, Orry-Kelly has managed to retain exquisite exam¬ ples of this kind of work without sacrificing effect. Take the business of drapery, for instance. Many screen designers avoid the use of drapery because it is a quiet kind of designing ... it makes no great splash on the screen. But Orry-Kelly knows that deft drapery can do much to flatter a woman’s figure, to give it added grace and dis¬ tinction. And so, forgetting many of the tenets of screen designing, he worked with drapery, with the Grecian fold-against-fold kind of beauty and evolved for himself and for the stars he dressed, a technique of drapery that was as successful before the camera as it was distinguished. Then there is the matter of detail. Fine de¬ tails, the dressmaker details that grace the clothes of the great couturiers are not spectacular enough for any great amount of screen use. But OrryKelly was not defeated by this supposedly estab¬ lished fact. He used details continually and with amazing success. Tucks, exquisite seaming, fine details of finishing . . . these were his forte . . . and out of them, and his knowledge of them, came clothes that were to make him one of the great de¬ signers of Hollywood. He made Kay Francis one of the important fashion figures in the news, not only in Holly¬ wood. The tall, willowy Francis was at her best in his figure-flattering clothes with their graceful Greek influence. Yet he could turn his hand to tailored things and give her a suit that for all its extreme simplicity still furthered the Francis reputation for warm, vibrant femininity. This is Orry-Kelly, the designer, at his best. The magician? Well . . . Bette Davis may be called the greatest actress of the American screen (and rightly so). She may be considered one of the screen’s most vital personalities. But she is a small Avoinan with none of the long lines that dis¬ tinguish the perfect clothes’ horse type. Like many women of tremendous personality, she cares little about clothes and shows no great feeling for them. In designing for Bette Davis, Orry-Kelly has Avon All sketches are ©rry-Kelly’s originals for the movie "The Old Maid”