Costume designs from the prolific costume designer and Academy Award winner who worked on more than 150 projects throughout his career in the Hollywood film industry, including King Kong and Gone With the Wind. This work was almost certainly made for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which takes place in the 1850s and for which Plunkett used old quilts or quilted fabric patterns. Included are two fabric swatches and a notation of "1852" in the lower right corner. Window measures 11.75 x 9 inches matted to an overall size of 16 x 13 inches.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is a 1954 American musical film, directed by Stanley Donen, with music by Gene de Paul, lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Set in Oregon in 1850, it is particularly known for Michael Kidd's unusual choreography, which makes dance numbers out of such mundane frontier pursuits as chopping wood and raising a barn. It won the Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture and was nominated for four additional awards, including Best Picture.
Sometimes designs were altered from sketch to screen, or were made for a scene and cut from the film and indeed we have not located this precise dress in the final film. But unlike many of the signed watercolor costume designs which Plunkett made in the 1970s for exhibition, and which were based on his earlier final designs, the present design is a much rarer working costume design made at the time of the original film.
We are very grateful to Christian Esquevin (historian of Hollywood costume design history and author of Designing Hollywood: Studio Wardrobe in the Golden Age) for his assistance in the cataloging of this item.
Costume designs from the prolific costume designer and Academy Award winner who worked on more than 150 projects throughout his career in the Hollywood film industry, including King Kong and Gone With the Wind. This work was almost certainly made for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which takes place in the 1850s and for which Plunkett used old quilts or quilted fabric patterns. Included are two fabric swatches and a notation of "1852" in the lower right corner. Window measures 11.75 x 9 inches matted to an overall size of 16 x 13 inches.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is a 1954 American musical film, directed by Stanley Donen, with music by Gene de Paul, lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Set in Oregon in 1850, it is particularly known for Michael Kidd's unusual choreography, which makes dance numbers out of such mundane frontier pursuits as chopping wood and raising a barn. It won the Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture and was nominated for four additional awards, including Best Picture.
Sometimes designs were altered from sketch to screen, or were made for a scene and cut from the film and indeed we have not located this precise dress in the final film. But unlike many of the signed watercolor costume designs which Plunkett made in the 1970s for exhibition, and which were based on his earlier final designs, the present design is a much rarer working costume design made at the time of the original film.
We are very grateful to Christian Esquevin (historian of Hollywood costume design history and author of Designing Hollywood: Studio Wardrobe in the Golden Age) for his assistance in the cataloging of this item.