"Are my seams straight?"

Hello mystery reader(s)! Today's topic is Hollywood Costume Designer; Orry-Kelly.



Orry-Kelly was the professional name of Orry George Kelly (31 December 1897 – 27 February 1964), a prolific Hollywood costume designer. He went to Hollywood in 1932, working for all the major studios (Warner Brothers, Universal, RKO, 20th Century Fox, and MGM).

He designed for all the great actresses of the day, including Bette Davis, Kay Francis, Olivia de Havilland, Katharine Hepburn, Dolores del Río, Ava Gardner, Ann Sheridan, Barbara Stanwyck, Merlan Olsen and Marilyn Monroe.He won three Academy Awards for Best Costume Design (for An American in Paris, Cole Porter's Les Girls, and Some Like It Hot) and was nominated for a fourth (for Gypsy).



He wrote a column 'Hollywood Fashion Parade' for the International News Service, owned by William Randolph Hearst, during the war years.A longtime alcoholic, he died of liver cancer in Hollywood and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills). His pallbearers included Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, Billy Wilder and George Cukor and his eulogy was read by Jack Warner. His Academy Awards went to Jack Warner's wife, Ann

He worked on many films now deemed classics, including 42nd Street, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, Arsenic and Old Lace, Harvey, Oklahoma!, Auntie Mame, and Some Like It Hot.(via wikipedia)



The man had talent, pure and simple. The shape of his clothing complimented a woman and his tailoring and style was somewhat advanced for his time. For example, the dress see-through dress he created for 'Some like it hot' was risque without being vulgar (even with a little cut out heart on the bottom). He used strategically placed strings in his designs to draw your eye directly where he wanted it to.



An interesting thing I learned about Orry-Kelly while filming 'Some like it hot' with Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon was that since both Curtis and Lemmon had to dress up as women for a majority of the movie, they wanted to looking somewhat convincing and well-dressed. Curtis asked director, Billy Wilder (Another genius we will get to on another day.) if Orry-Kelly could design their wardrobe..



Amazing but still hilarious right? lol Today's video is a scene from 'Some like it hot' so you can see what the costumes were like for all characters in a nutshell. PLEASE notice Marilyn's Fur trimmed Coat and Dress which I absouletly LOVE LOVE LOVE! Enjoy! ;)
-L



(Video Credit-Youtube user:MarilynMortician)