Adrian question

M

misshelenes

Registered Guest
I was watching the Biography Channel the other day. They were doing a bio of Spencer Tracy and, of course, showed several clips of him with Katharine Hepburn. In one, I looked at her jacket and thought it must be Adrian. Went to IMDB to see and sure enough, it was.

So that led to some reading about Adrian. I read that he had never been given an Oscar, because he had retired from costuming before they gave Oscars for that particular division. I found that amazing and appalling at the same time.

This, of course, got me thinking -- what do you think about the possibility of starting an organized campaign to give an Oscar to Adrian? Yes, I know that the Oscars are political, and it would likely never happen, but with enough weight put into it, and enough time -- it's very early in the Oscar season right now -- could we make that happen?

What do you think? Any possibility, or do I need some drugs?

Lisa
 
I think the problem is he was better known for his non-film fashion than his film costuming. He is known for introducing the butterfly sleeve in a film in 1932 but I read that film has had copyright issues and hasn't been shown in 70 years. Otherwise, he did mostly wardrobe for films like The Women (1939) where he would get credit for 'gowns' but the costumer's role was as part of the art department, along with scenery and props.
 
Therein lies the problem: he worked in Hollywood before his time, and was basically a victim of the fact that fashion was thrown in with art at the time. I'm not sure that it's right that someone considered to be the best costumer in history should be overlooked by the Academy just because they didn't have an Oscar for him when he was working. His work in Hollywood, after all, is what made his private business possible.

Ruby slippers. Joan Crawford's shoulder pads. Greta Garbo. Katharine Hepburn.

I don't know. It's just an idea, but I see him as a victim of bad timing. If it was today, he'd have an Oscar.
 
I agree with you. He is responsible for many fashion trends from "Letty Lynton" (which I would love to see), on. He dressed all of the MGM stars from the late '20's (if I remember correctly) until he left MGM in 1941 to open his own business. I fyou want to know more, Google: "Gowns by Adrian".

Linn
 
The other problem is that this Academy Award was first given in 1948 and after that date Adrian only worked on two film productions, his last film ironically titled 'Lovely to Look At' was made in 1952.

A posthumous nomination is apparently within the Academy's guidelines but if you look at the list the time frame is within a year or two at the most.
 
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