60 FASHION WEAR

Anna May Wong (January 3, 1905 – February 2, 1961) was an American actress, the first Chinese American movie star,[1] and the first Asian American to become an international star.[2] Her long and varied career spanned both silent and sound film, television, stage, and radio.
Born near the Chinatown neighborhood of Los Angeles to second-generation Chinese-American parents, Wong became infatuated with the movies and began acting in films at an early age. During the silent film era, she acted in The Toll of the Sea (1922), one of the first movies made in color and Douglas Fairbanks' The Thief of Bagdad (1924). Wong became a fashion icon, and by 1924 had achieved international stardom.
Frustrated by the stereotypical supporting roles she reluctantly played in Hollywood, she left for Europe in the late 1920s, where she starred in several notable plays and films, among them Piccadilly (1929).
She spent the first half of the 1930s traveling between the United States and Europe for film and stage work. Wong was featured in films of the early sound era, such as Daughter of the Dragon (1931) and Daughter of Shanghai (1937), and with Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg's Shanghai Express (1932).[3]
In 1935 Wong was dealt the most severe disappointment of her career, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer refused to consider her for the leading role in its film version of Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth, choosing instead the German actress Luise Rainer to play the leading role in "yellowface". Wong spent the next year touring China, visiting her family's ancestral village and studying Chinese culture. In the late 1930s, she starred in several B movies for Paramount Pictures, portraying Chinese-Americans in a positive light. She paid less attention to her film career during World War II, when she devoted her time and money to helping the Chinese cause against Japan. Wong returned to the public eye in the 1950s in several television appearances as well as her own series in 1951, The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong, the first U.S. television show starring an Asian-American.[4] She had been planning to return to film in Flower Drum Song when she died in 1961, at the age of 56.
For decades after her death, Wong was remembered principally for the stereotypical "Dragon Lady" and demure "Butterfly" roles that she was often given. Her life and career were re-evaluated in the years around the centennial of her birth, in three major literary works and film retrospectives. Interest in her life story continues and another biography, Shining Star: The Anna May Wong Story, was published in 2009

Travis Banton (August 18, 1894 – February 2, 1958) was the chief designer at Paramount Pictures. He is considered one of the most important Hollywood costume designers of the 1930s.

He was born in Waco, Texas. Travis moved to New York City as a child. He was educated at Columbia University and at the Art Students League where he studied art and fashion design.

An early apprenticeship with high-society couturier Madame Francis in New York allowed him to make a name for himself when in 1919 Mary Pickford selected one of his designer gowns for her secret marriage to Douglas Fairbanks, after which his reputation was established.

He opened his own dressmaking salon in New York City, and soon was asked to create costumes for the Ziegfeld Follies. In 1924, he moved to Hollywood when Paramount contracted with him to create costumes for his first film, 'The Dressmaker From Paris'.

Beginning with Norma Talmadge in "Poppy," Banton designed clothing for Pola Negri and Clara Bow (It) in the 1920s. Florence Vidor, who had seen herself as a plain Jane type, was enchanted with the lavish gowns Banton gave her for 'The Grand Duchess and the Waiter. (1926). In the '30s and '40s he designed for such stars as Kay Francis, Lilyan Tashman, Sylvia Sidney, Gail Patrick, Helen Vinson, and Claudette Colbert. Ultimately, Travis Banton may be best remembered for forging the style of such Hollywood icons as Carole Lombard, Marlene Dietrich, and the inimitable Mae West.

Glamour, understated elegance, and exquisite fabrics endeared Travis Banton to the most celebrated of Hollywood's beauties and made him one of the most sought-after costume designers of his era. As a viewing of such films as The Gilded Lily (1935) and Desire (1936)reveals, his clothes were marked by simple but stylish cuts (often on the bias), rich fabrics (such as satin and lame), and extravagant decoration (beads, fur, and feathers).

When Designer Howard Greer left Paramount, Banton was promoted to Head Designer and was responsible for dressing the studio's most illustrious stars. Because of his alcoholism and reputedly also at the instigation of his subordinate Edith Head, Banton was forced to leave Paramount. He started his own business and also designed for Twentieth Century-Fox from 1939-1941 and Universal from 1945-1948.