On Wednesday, June 26th, Christie's will auction off the first wedding gown of Elizabeth Taylor. It is a momentous occasion. Created by MGM legend Helen Rose and a gift from the studio, this influential dress is right at the crossroads of costume and fashion design. I was thrilled when its current owner (still married after wearing it for her own 1974 nuptials) reached out and invited me to inspect the ensemble before it was whisked off to London for sale. Our meeting at the Christie's offices in Beverly Hills was astounding...witnessing firsthand the level of quality and craftsmanship that came from the team at MGM. Christie's then honored me further by asking me to write the article that accompanies the gown in the auction catalog. That article is reprinted below and I've followed it with photographs that help illustrate the story of this iconic gown.
POST AUCTION UPDATE: With Christie's estimates ranging from $50,000 to $75,000 before the auction, the gown ended up selling for $188, 175! It was truly exciting to watch it all live and yet another example of the value of design that stems from classic cinema.
POST AUCTION UPDATE: With Christie's estimates ranging from $50,000 to $75,000 before the auction, the gown ended up selling for $188, 175! It was truly exciting to watch it all live and yet another example of the value of design that stems from classic cinema.
When Elizabeth Taylor married
Conrad “Nicky” Hilton, Jr. in 1950, it was one of the most golden moments of
the Golden Age of Hollywood. Already
a veteran actress at age 18, Elizabeth was a mere year away from her
Oscar-nominated performance in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s A Place in the Sun (1951).
This was her very first marriage and, because she was also still so
young, there was a genuine innocence and optimism about the occasion. Everyone wanted to be there—the Beverly
Hills wedding and Bel Air reception made up the
social event of the year. MGM boasted
“more stars than there are in heaven” and the 700 guests represented the A-list
of Old Hollywood. Greer Garson,
Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Esther Williams, and Van Johnson are
just some of who came to congratulate the bride. Guests also
included co-stars Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett from Father of the Bride (1950), which MGM marketed and skillfully
scheduled for release mere weeks after this wedding. Even columnist Hedda
Hopper, “a veteran scrutineer of visionary Hollywood brides from the days of
Vilma Banky and Norma Shearer to Shirley Temple [and] Deanna Durbin,” called
the event “the Hollywood wedding of weddings.”
The real star and center of this
“wedding of weddings” was this dress. A gift from MGM and designed by their legendary costume
designer Helen Rose, it was (and still is) so extraordinary that photographs of
it have appeared all over the world--from newspapers to tabloids to LIFE magazine.
Today it appears in the pages of
fashion and continues to act as inspiration to the industry; in fact, this
off-the-shoulder illusion gown has become iconic. With “25
yards of shell-white satin sprinkled with bugle beads and tiny seed pearls trailed
by 15 yards of satin train,” it is exactly the kind of elegant design for which Helen Rose was known. She always started by sourcing the most
luxurious of fabrics, and there’s a special luminous depth to the satin in this gown.
It exudes a warm glow in certain light that looks beautiful against the
skin. And, according to current owner,
the fabric even sounds beautiful…there
is a soft slow swishing whenever one moves across the room.
Everything about this gown was custom
designed with Elizabeth Taylor in mind.
Since she was celebrated for her voluptuous figure, Helen added a built-in
corset to the dress so it could be “tightly
cinched to emphasize Elizabeth’s waist and bust.” Apparently, they took that as far as
they could; it’s reported that Elizabeth gasped when she was sewn in on the day
of the wedding. Even the veil
of “10 yards of shimmering silk illusion net” was carefully considered and attached
to a pearl-covered Juliet cap in order to fairly float around Elizabeth. The project was so extensive and had
such priority at MGM that 15 people
worked full-time (likely more) for two to three months straight on it. It took
several people just to complete the painstaking pearl and beadwork. The level of craftsmanship of this garment
is so high it would be near impossible to recreate. That’s the magic of
Helen Rose and might of MGM.
Historically, there are several
great relationships between designer and star in Hollywood. Adrian and Joan Crawford. Travis Banton and Marlene Dietrich. Hubert de Givenchy and Audrey
Hepburn. And then there is Helen
Rose and Elizabeth Taylor. For those who are not familiar with her work, Helen was a
two-time Oscar winner—dressing Lana Turner in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and Susan Hayward in I’ll Cry Tomorrow (1955). With Father of the Bride, she and Elizabeth
began a special bond and the resulting collaborations through their careers continue
to influence us today. Consider the iconic wardrobes Helen created for
Elizabeth in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Butterfield 8 (1960). They made an immediate impact on fashion; copies of the slips and cocktail dresses from both movies went
on to become bestsellers in stores. They continued to be so popular, in fact, that Helen included
the designs in her own line when she segued to fashion from her career at MGM.
Their relationship went beyond
great design, too. Elizabeth
considered Helen one of her closest friends and the two women would remain
friends for years. Helen was there
with Elizabeth through her triumphs—including her Best Actress Oscar for Butterfield 8. But perhaps most importantly, she was there for Elizabeth’s
tragedies as well; Helen was one of the few called in time of genuine need. Their relationship grew stronger when Elizabeth's
beloved husband, producer Mike Todd, suddenly died in a plane crash during
filming of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She would later say that playing the part of Maggie and having
Helen by her side saved her life during that difficult time.
Because Helen was known for always
achieving Louis B. Mayer's one standing order to "just make them look
beautiful" and treated everyone with great respect, she worked wonderfully
well with all of her colleagues and clients. In addition to Elizabeth, many
of the biggest were personal friends--Grace Kelly, Lana Turner, Lena Horne, Lauren Bacall,
and Esther Williams were all considered
like sisters. Helen was so close
to them that she frequently designed their offscreen wardrobes as well. Needless to say, this often included their
wedding gowns. Perhaps her most famous is Grace Kelly’s when she became
the Princess of Monaco, especially since that very design recently inspired
Kate Middleton’s wedding dress by Sarah Burton (for Alexander McQueen).
Helen was known for doing wedding dresses so well that Zsa Zsa Gabor once said,
"A beautiful Helen Rose chiffon dress, a little Dom Perignon, some caviar,
and dammit, you’re married again!”
Kimberly Truhler
Film and Costume Historian
Founder of GlamAmor
Reprinted from Christie's POP CULTURE auction catalog (No. 9467)
Elizabeth arrives to a flurry of photographers
Love in the pages of LIFE magazine
and other media outlets around the world
Guests included many film greats including Elizabeth's co-star Van Johnson
Straight from the pages of the Christie's catalog
where you'll also see my article right alongside the iconic gown
Global coverage of this auction has included the NY Daily News (above), UK's Daily Mail,
Huntington Post, Los Angeles Times, Marie Claire, Anna Dello Russo, and MSN (below)
Another Helen Rose creation that is similar, but different...
Elizabeth's onscreen wedding gown for Father of the Bride (1950)
Two other iconic Elizabeth Taylor-Helen Rose design collaborations--
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and BUtterfield 8 (1960)
Turning the tables--Elizabeth doing Helen Rose's hair at MGM
around the time of her 1950 nuptials (video below)
Legacy of Elizabeth's wedding gown includes two other icons--Grace Kelly's Helen Rose in 1956
and Kate Middleton's Sarah Burton (for Alexander McQueen) in 2011
