Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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photography courtesy of MuseuM of fine arts, Boston (Bangle); By Brian sanderson/MuseuM of fine arts, Boston (shoes); Baron/getty iMages (West) Glamour, unpluGGed The MuseuM of fine Arts saluTes The silver-screen gliTTer ThaT offered salvaTion To a baTTle-bound america. by jared bowen There was a moment in the 1930s and early 1940s when romance and razzle- dazzle beamed out of Los Angeles more brightly than the Hope Diamond. Hollywood actresses like Mae West, Jean Harlow, Greta Garbo, and Marlene Dietrich draped themselves in haute couture gowns and dazzling gems both on-screen and off. "[Hollywood] created this incredible ambience of glam- our at a time when life was really tough," says Yvonne Markowitz, the curator of jewelry at the Museum of Fine Arts. The mystique of those film icons is evoked in the MFA exhibition "Hollywood Glamour: Fashion and Jewelry from the Silver Screen," on view September 9 through March 8, 2015. The show features more than 45 pieces, including gowns, jewelry, photographs, and design sketches, many of them never shown publicly until now. A particular coup, says Michelle Finamore, the MFA's curator of fashion arts, who created the show with Markowitz, is a René Hubert evening dress and jacket worn by Gloria Swanson for the 1930 film What a Widow! The film's print was lost, but not the outfit. The exhibit's veritable walk down fashion histor y's red carpet also leads pat rons to a provocative evening dress worn by Carole Lombard in 1932's No Man of Her Own, Harlow's silk and crepe-back satin gown from Bombshell (also worn when she left her hand- and footprints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre), and Garbo's heavily accessorized velvet dress from her 1931 film Inspiration. Of course, Hollywood is nothing without its jewels. "Many of these actresses actually purchased these jewels and wore them on set and around town," says Markowitz. The exhibit features a staggering array of pieces, including a 50- carat diamond, platinum, and sapphire ring worn by Myrna Loy and a gold, diamond, and aquamarine suite worn by Joan Crawford as a turban ornament in promotional stills for The Women in 1938. For Markowitz, the standout is a multiuse necklace worn by June Knight, on loan from jewelry designer Neil Lane. The long platinum, diamond, and sapphire piece comes apart to form two bracelets, a double dress clip, and three brooches. "I saw it with [Lane] in his vault about 15 years ago and gasped," Markowitz says. "Paris [may be] the center of fashion… but it has adapted in California." September 9–March 8, 2015. Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., 617-267-9300; mfa.org BC Iliquam, ulles ipsae id quaecum imusanisi si occum faccabor sitatem et, sendigenimus dellest rent apero vent, sus, quos es doluptatque A reflection bangle from Trabert & Hoeffer- Mauboussin, crafted in gold with diamonds and rubies (circa 1940). Mae West wore these double-decker platform shoes to conceal her diminutive stature. The stunning gowns and dazzling jewelry of Hollywood stars of the 1930s and '40s, like Mae West, are now on view at the Museum of Fine Arts. 62 bostoncommon-magazine.com culture Art Full