Rising up in the Depression, films will be the greatest escape for Gene London.
After his star-struck mum chose him into the pictures, the youthful London was siphoned from the epic stars along with also their absolutely equipped closets. After he cried to his mommy in the cosmetic salon, London would spit admirer publications.
“Like my mother, I fell in love with Hollywood,” he states. “We were all poor, but in the movies, you could see all your dreams come true.”
Today London attracts 5 9 outfits, worn with a number of their largest celebrities, in the private costume set into the Allentown Art Museum.
Designing Hollywood: Golden Age Costumes in Your Gene London Cinema Collection” opening Sept. 29, features costumes worn by stars from Mae West to Charleton Heston to Marilyn Monroe, and created by some of the film industry’s greatest designers, including Edith Head, Elsa Schiaparelli, Bob Mackie and Hollywood legend Adrian.
Anyone who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s in the greater Philadelphia area probably remembers the eternally boyish London from his popular children’s television show “Cartoon Corners.” However, after his television show ended in 1977, he became a fashion designer and collector of fashions from the big screen.
At 88, London is gracious and charming, and still has a child-like fascination with the Hollywood mystique.
“I never ever believed I would contact a picture celebrity’s hats,” says London, whose collection now numbers more than 60,000 gowns, dresses and accessories, which the Reading resident stores in a warehouse in Berks County.
The exhibit is a perfect fit for the museum, which has”long’d a historic fascination in costume design and fabrics,” says Museum President and CEO David Mickenberg. “This really is an outstanding set inside our garden, accumulated through a fantastic individual.”
Mickenberg says the exhibit focuses on the late 1920s through the 1950s, when the Hollywood “dream factory” produced lavish films, and studios fostered close partnerships between actors and designers to bring memorable characters to life through the art of garment design.
“The Golden Age of Hollywood fostered the flowering of exceptional design,”” Mickenberg says. “It’s thrilling. The celebrities have been all iconic, the more films really are impressive and you’ll be able to observe in what way the outfits match in the manager’s eyesight. Our vision would be to exhibit those bracelets in a sense which provides you straight back with time, together with radiant textures, classy colours, and also a stunning demonstration inspired through the time scale “
On display will be costumes worn by Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Katharine Hepburn, Debbie Reynolds, Judy Garland, Rita Hayworth, Henry Fonda, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, James Cagney, Grace Kelly,Leslie Caron, Lana Turner, Doris Day, and more in such significant films as”Singin’ in the Rain,””Ben-Hur,””To Catch a Thief,””Yankee Doodle Dandy,””Mildred Pierce” and much more, such as 10 Oscar winners.