Marilyn Book News: Reissues

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Several Marilyn-related titles are being reissued this year. Marilyn in Words and Pictures, due in May, is a repackaging of Richard Havers and Richard Evans’ 2010 book, Marilyn in Words, Pictures and Music – with a new cover, but minus the supplementary CD. (A condensed version was also published as a U.K. ‘bookazine‘ in 2011.)

CCA94DE9-D1EC-4651-9866-EB54A21A9591-COLLAGEDressing Marilyn, Andrew Hansford and Karen Homer’s look at the fabulous movie costumes of Travilla, will be reissued in April. Also next month, Angela Cartwright’s Styling the Stars: Treasures From the Twentieth Century Fox Archives will be republished in paperback.

Marilyn Book News: Translations and Reissues

Among the many MM-related book releases this year are a few you may have seen before. Andrew Hansford’s Dressing Marilyn has been translated into French, while Marilyn by Magnum is now available in Italian.

A 50th anniversary edition of Adam Victor’s Marilyn Encylopedia is due in July, while Keith Badman’s The Final Years of Marilyn Monroe is due out in paperback in the UK (June), and in hardback in the US (July.)

Finally, Donald Spoto’s Marilyn Monroe: The Biography will be re-released as an audio CD in July, narrated by Anna Fields.

‘Dressing Marilyn’ Author Speaks

Andrew Hansford, author of Dressing Marilyn: How a Hollywood Icon Was Styled by William Travilla, is interviewed in the latest issue of Corduroy magazine:

“How much of a say did Marilyn have in designing the clothes?
None. A lot of celebrities did, but Marilyn trusted him implicitly. He would ask her what she thought and she would say, “It doesn’t matter.” Marilyn did, however, have one rule: she would not wear a full skirt. The one exception she made was with her dress in The Seven Year Itch, and she was okay with that because it ended up over her head!

How did Travilla like to dress his clients?
Just look at Marilyn, there’s not a single photo of her showing cleavage. Travilla knew how to dress her provocatively and sexy, and still show nothing! Pleating was his big thing. He also loved working with chiffon, velvet and silk; he never used unnatural fiber.”

 

‘Dressing Marilyn’ Reviewed

Andrew Hansford’s book on Billy Travilla reviewed at Queens of Vintage, plus your chance to win a copy (via Twitter)

We’re now giving away five copies of Dressing Marilyn: How a Hollywood Icon Was Styled by William Travilla. Simply follow us @queensofvintage and @carltonbookspr on Twitter and tweet us your favourite Monroe film using #dressingmm as a hashtag. The fiver winners will be picked at random at midday on Thursday, 2 February 2012. There is no cash alternative. Good luck!

Digging For Marilyn’s Gold


South Korean singer Lee Hyori has posed for a Monroe-inspired shoot. There’s an elegance and delicacy in this photo, a merging Eastern and Western beauty.

Meanwhile at London’s Altitude 360 last night, Kristina Rihanoff, a  contestant on the British TV show, Strictly Come Dancing, wore a replica of Travilla’s famous gold dress at the launch for Andrew Hansford’s book, Dressing Marilyn.

Dressing Marilyn: Her Gold Dress

Dressing Marilyn, a new book about Travilla by Andrew Hansford, is published this week. It is also featured in Stella magazine, in today’s Telegraph. Here is an extract, all about Marilyn’s diaphanous gold dress…

“Created out of a single circle of fabric, this gold lamé garment in sun-ray pleats (a Travilla trademark – ‘When I die, don’t have me cremated, have me pleated,’ he once said) has two thin, flexible iron bars in a V-shape starting at the waist and travelling up the bust, moulding the dress to the body. Monroe was sewn into it for her performance. When she later asked to wear it to the 1953 Photoplay Awards, Travilla refused. ‘It was fine for the movie, but for real life it was way too sexy and flashy. Also… it didn’t even have a zipper,’ he said. Monroe, a girl who didn’t hear the word no, went over his head to Darryl Zanuck, the head of Fox, and the dress was released. Again she was sewn into it, but promised Travilla she would wear her hair simply and walk like a lady. Whether she did or not, Joan Crawford was quoted as saying Monroe looked ‘vulgar’ . But she was front-page news the next day – and ever after.”

Marilyn in the Blogosphere

Marilyn on the marquee at Grauman’s, 1955

First, some sad news: Grauman’s Chinese Theatre is to be sold, reports Melinda at The MMM Blog.


Dressing Marilyn, an illustrated tribute to William Travilla’s costume designs for Marilyn, will be released in October. By Andrew Hansford and Karen Homer, to be published by Goodman Books, 192pp. More details at MM Collection Blog

And for French-fluent readers, Blonde a Manhattan is a newly published collection of Ed Feingersh‘s photos, taken over one week with Marilyn in March 1955, 216 pp, with text by Adrien Gombeaud; the book’s release is accompanied by an exhibition in Paris.