Hollywood Costume Exhibit

Hollywood Costume Exhibit

Rachel Landis Rosen, Valley Beth Shalom Early Childhood Center teacher and her mother, Oscar-nominated costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis have something very special to share with the VBS community – Hollywood Costume, an exhibit curated by Landis, now running at the historic Wilshire May Company Building, the future home of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, scheduled to open in 2017.

Growing up in Hollywood with parents in the film industry - her father is John Landis, director of such classic films as Animal House, The Blues Brothers and Trading Placesalong with Michael Jackson’s Thriller video - there was always an expectation that Rachel would go into the family business.

“However, after almost seven years of teaching,” Rachel said, “and this year starting in the new position of the ECC’s Afterschool Kids’ Club Coordinator, I can say, with all honesty, working with young children may be the most exciting job ever! My job may not be glamorous, but it is my privilege to be part of a community that encourages children to embrace their individuality while simultaneously teaching core Jewish values like empathy and Tikkun Olam.”

When the exhibit opened, Rachel and Deborah knew it was something the greater VBS community would certainly want to see.

From the moment a visitor walks through the movie marquee entrance into what is meant to be a darkened theater, they are caught up in the magic of Hollywood. From script pages floating on teleprompters to a classic soundtrack commissioned especially for the exhibit, to cutting edge multimedia displays, visitors are immersed in storytelling and a vivid lesson in costume design. The museum guards even use flashlights, pointing them at the floor like theater ushers, leading moviegoers down the aisle to their seats in the low light of a performance.

"Movies are about people,” said Landis, who designed the costumes for such movies as Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Blues Brothers, Animal House, Michael Jackson’sThriller video and Coming to America, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. “The audience is asked to believe that each of the people in the story had a life prior to the start of the movie.”

But costumes are so much more than clothes, continued Landis, the David C. Copley Chair, founding director of the David C. Copley Center for the Study of Costume Design at UCLA and ongoing advocate for the recognition of the importance of the costume designer in movie making. As curator of the Hollywood Costume exhibit, she explained that clothes embody the psychological, social and emotional condition of the character at a particular moment in the script using color, texture and silhouette to provide balance within the composition of the film frame.

Using mannequins dressed in the costumes and posed as if in motion, photographs that have been digitally enhanced to move and actual production forms before each costume filled in with the designer’s written character notes, “we come to understand how costumes play an integral role in serving the script, transforming the actor and realizing the director’s vision,” said Landis. “The costume designer gives clothes to the actor, the actor gives the performance to the director and the director tells the story.”

The exhibit teaches attendees about the myriad decisions behind such memorable items as Indiana Jones’ hat in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Dorothy’s blue-and-white gingham pinafore dress in The Wizard of Ozand Reese Witherspoons’ Jackie O-type pink suit in Legally Blonde 2.

The four rooms of the exhibit feature more than 150 costumes from the Golden Era to today’s digitally enhanced films, including clothes from The Tramp, Cleopatra, Saving Private Ryan, Some Like It Hot, American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Great Gatsby, as well as Dorothy's ruby red slippers. Think of a personal beloved classic and an item from it might be on display. The exhibit is much more than a chance to gawk at an incredible selection of famous costumes. It also offers a series of stunning insights into the thought process of some of the most famous Hollywood costume designers and directors.

In the room titled ‘Collaborating with Directors’, teams of directors and costume designers are presented on separate screens, but in dialogue, much like regular working conditions. We listen to Edith Head and Alfred Hitchcock (The Birds), Sandy Powell and Martin Scorsese (Gangs of New York), Ann Roth and Mike Nichols (Closer), Sharen Davis and Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) and Colleen Atwood and Tim Burton (Sweeney Todd) discussing the process of working together to create a character through costumes.

“Actors often discover their character in the fitting room,” Landis said. “This is not so much a change of clothes as a change of skin.”

Plan to spend 90 minutes to two hours at the exhibit. Learn how Shay Cunliffe turned Matt Damon into Jason Bourne (The Bourne Ultimatum), a character who needed to both blend in as a spy but stand out so the audience could locate him in a crowd. Or understand Consolata Boyle’s challenge in dressing Helen Mirren (The Queen) as the very private but equally iconic Elizabeth 2. And then there’s a delightful detail in the Meryl Streep display: Streep majored in costume design, not acting, and by her own laughing admission can be either a delight to work with for a designer or quite the opposite.

“When Hollywood Costume opened, I was interviewed by the Jewish Journal,” Landis said. “Unsurprisingly, there are Jewish links in the costume design story. Of course, the locus of Jewish creativity in Hollywood is “above the line” in the contributions of great producers, directors, writers and actors. However, some of the greatest Hollywood costume designers were and are Jewish artists. We can take that pride of place in creating international popular culture. I sincerely hope that the VBS community will take the opportunity to visit during these final weeks.”

The exhibit will close on March 2nd. Purchasing day/time-specific tickets online is suggested.  Go to www.oscars.org/hollywoodcostume

Article by Bobbi Rubinstein 

Photo Credits: 
1) Rachel Landis Rosen, Valley Beth Shalom ECC teacher
2) Oscar-nominated costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis
3) The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London present “Hollywood Costume” sponsored by Swarovski, on view October 2, 2014 - March 2, 2015 at the Wilshire May Company building. Credit: Richard Harbaugh / ©A.M.P.A.S.
4) The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London present “Hollywood Costume” sponsored by Swarovski, on view October 2, 2014 - March 2, 2015 at the Wilshire May Company building. Pictured here: "American Hustle," 2013, Michael Wilkinson, courtesy of White Dog Productions LLC, Annapura Pictures and Columbia Pictures. Credit: Richard Harbaugh / ©A.M.P.A.S.
5) The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London present “Hollywood Costume” sponsored by Swarovski, on view October 2, 2014 - March 2, 2015 at the Wilshire May Company building. Credit: Richard Harbaugh / ©A.M.P.A.S.