MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH HOLLYWOOD COSTUME

Back in 2012, I had the most amazing experience of all when I came face to face with a huge number of iconic Hollywood Costumes at the V&A Museum. It was like a dream come true.

I've always had a great interest in Hollywood costume, and these days, I take a lot of personal inspiration from them. I admire the research behind each piece and the workmanship, but, it's the costumes from the golden age of Hollywood that truly takes my breadth away. Every piece is like a work of art.

Since I was four-years-old, I've always desired a pair of Ruby Slippers like the ones Judy Garland wore in The Wizard of Oz, 1939. Adrian was the costume designer for that film and he is my absolute favourite. The man was a pure genius of his time and a master of the art. Joan Crawford favoured the way he dressed her in films. I saw the actual dress he designed for The Bride Wore Red, 1937. It was incredible. The cut, workmanship and present condition of the dress was remarkable. Worn today on the red carpet by a young actress I'm sure this dress would grab every front page throughout the world!

So, now it begs the question: what exactly is costume design?

Well, since the characters in films are all about people, the clothes that they wear have to reflect their own personality, moods and the social economic climate. It so happens that the characters are the emotional core of a film that is intended to move an audience and make them relate to them as if they're real people. Costumes provide the audience with essential information about who and what the characters are and attention to detail is the greatest hallmark of any great costume.

The gowns that Sabrina Fairchild (Audrey Hepburn) wears in the 1954 film Sabrina are just glorious. This is what you'd imagine a beautiful young girl returning from Paris would wear. The gowns were designed by Herbert de Civenchy.

But, the greatest highlight of all, for me, was coming face to face with his creation for the !961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's: the iconic black dress. Audrey Hepburn wears this beautifully cut dress at the opening of the film. It was magical to actually assess for myself the cut and quality of the dress.

Another Iconic costume that I really admire is the outfit Sharon Stone wears in the famous crossed-legs scene in the 1992 movie Basic Instinct. It's plain, beautiful and extremely classic. This outfit was designed by Ellen Mirojnick and Stone looks like a modern day Hitchcock Heroine. Of course, the outfit she is wearing in the film is trying to conceal her true motivations (believe it or not) and dangerous aspects of her personality.

On the other hand, designer Walter Plunkett, who made the green velvet crinoline dress from Gone with The Wind, 1939, which, in the film, was supposedly made from curtains, specifically designed the dress to draw attention to Vivien Leigh's wasp waist. For your information it is no longer pea green. It's faded to a dark green-brown colour.

Marilyn Monroe's famous white dress that she wore in The Seven Year Itch, 1955, was designed by William Travilla. So many people around me were taken aback by how tiny her waist was. So many people assume Marilyn Monroe was this buxom blonde, not so. If you look closely, Marilyn Monroe is very slim in that film.

At college, where I studied drama, I not only had a major part in the play that I co-wrote, but, I was responsible for dressing and designing some costumes for the cast. At 17-years- old, most of the girls wanted to look like great beauties when in fact the play never called for this at all. From my own experience, I realize just how stressful it is to be a costume designer. At times my patience was very thin and I just wanted to explode. Luckily, in the end, diplomacy followed by agreement came about with a little help from our fantastic drama coach.

Since I love history and social history in general, it has crossed my mind to go back to college and study costume design professionally. We'll see...

I'm happy just to sit back and be part of the audience in a beautiful theatre, munching on fresh popcorn, while watching a fantastic film.