Hollywood Costume Exhibit to Settle in at the Historic Wilshire May Company Building

Jenny Lester

You can never fully understand a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes, or so goes the age old adage. Lest we forget that we live in a city full of people who make their living walking in other people’s shoes, Hollywood Costume will appear at the historic Wilshire May Company Building Oct. 2 through March 2. The exhibition will feature masterful costumes from 61 Academy Award winning films and is sponsored by Swarovski and organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, where it enjoyed a successful run beginning in 2012. It is only fitting that the event should end with a five-month run here in the entertainment capital of the world.

The costumes on display cover almost 100 years of movie-making history, spanning from Charlie Chaplin‘s silent world to “Pretty Woman.” The sartorial collection will educate movie buffs in a new context, one that will hopefully be recognized as an underrated element of filmmaking. In addition to the costumes that have been with the exhibit since its inception, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will add over 30 pieces of its own, including recent acquisitions such as Jared Leto‘s costume from “Dallas Buyers Club.” Other pieces come from a variety of collections, either privately, studio, or costume-house owned.

Presented non-chronologically, the walk-through is comprised of four galleries. This structure is designed to take participants on a journey through a deconstruction of the art of costume making, an educational dialogue about the collaboration between costume designers and a film’s creative team, and finally through a display of some of the most iconic costumes of all time. The show does not even stop there; supplementary events are scheduled to take place throughout the exhibition’s run, including screenings, educational programs, and discussions with current and retired costume designers.

The exhibit serves as a perfect precursor to the highly anticipated Academy Museum of Motion Pictures which will – finally – open its doors at the same venue in 2016. The museum-to-be has been in the planning stages for years, with curators ironing out details of aesthetic value and target audience, while acquiring coveted articles of movie history. Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the 1939 “Wizard of Oz” film are among such pieces, and will make their debut at Hollywood Costume before finding a permanent home at the museum. Enjoy the walk-through exhibit now through March 2, but leave the empathy trekking to the actors; Judy Garland’s slippers are really, really tiny.

Hollywood Costume opens Oct. 2, 2014 and will be on view at the Wilshire May Company Building through March 2, 2015. Tickets can be purchased here.