Kristina Rihanoff Photography by Paul Harmer
Dressing Marilyn contains previously unseen dress patterns, enchanting sketches, rare costume test shots and photographs of Marilyn wearing the dresses plus exclusive extracts from interviews with William Travilla about his relationship with his fashion muse.
William Travilla is one of the best costume designers of all time and Marilyn Monroe his most famous client yet surprisingly little is known about Travilla himself and the special bond that existed between him and Marilyn.
The book launched last night and eight of the most iconic dresses that Travilla designed for Marilyn, including the pink dress in which she sang Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend and the stunning gold lamé dress designed for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes which was deemed too scandalous to actually appear on screen in 1953.
The gold dress ended up making headlines across the world when Marilyn turned up at a prestigious awards ceremony wearing it, letting Hollywood know that they could not dictate what she wore.
Strictly Come Dancing’s Kristina Rihanoff made a special guest appearance at Altitude 360 wearing that scandalous gold dress, celebrating Marilyn’s rebellious nature almost fifty years since her death.
Also on show were never-been-seen original costume sketches by William Travilla as well as rare photographs.
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