baba and anna may wong in the best of beaton - cecil beaton (1968)
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Marilyn Monroe photographed by Cecil Beaton at the Ambassador Hotel in New York, February 1956.
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Marilyn Monroe fotografiada por Cecil Beaton, New York 1955.
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This Edwardian-style gown was created for the Ascot scene in the original 1956 Broadway production of the Lerner and Loewe musical My Fair Lady. The scene was filled with beautiful gowns, all in black and white, in keeping with the famous “Black Ascot” of 1910, when King Edward VII died shortly before the event, making it inappropriate to wear color. Thus, those who attended wore all black, aside from accents of white from pearls and flowers.
The gown was designed by Cecil Beaton and executed by Helene Pons based on his sketches. The cream crepe dress has black velvet stripes and an embroidered lace bib. The photo above most likely shows actress Melisande Congdon in the costume, as she performed in the play for three years.
When Truman Capote decided to throw his famous “Black and White Ball,” – he used the scene from My Fair Lady as its inspiration. Deborah Davis��� wonderful book The Party of the Century mentions that much of the gossip about town was about “who” everyone would wear. Amanda Carter Burden, daughter of Babe Paley, was able to sidestep this conversation and not commit to any one designer when she chose a gown from the film My Fair Lady. A drawing of Amanda in costume, sketched by Kenneth Paul Block, appeared on the front page of Women’s Wear Daily.
But was her gown from the film adaptation of My Fair Lady? Amanda was based in New York City, and it would have been far easier for her to obtain one of the costumes from the Broadway show.
In addition, no costume in the film accurately matches the one she wore to the ball. There is one that is similar and clearly based on the same design, but it appears to be a different piece.
In 2015, the dress from the Broadway production went up for sale, where it sold for $1280. It contains a lace dickey that the auction house noted has been added post-production. The dickey is clearly visible on Amanda Carter in the Black and White Ball photo. While I cannot confirm for certain that she is wearing the dress from the stage production rather than the film production, I am confident that she is.
Costume Credit: Katie S.
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I imagined her as permanently shod in her sugar-icing pink frock and pink satin ballet shoes.
Cecil Beaton on Anna Pavlova, Ballet
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Orson Welles resting on a sculpture of Shakespeare.
Photographer: Cecil Beaton
Vanity Fair
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Audrey Hepburn photographed by Cecil Beaton for My Fair Lady (1964)
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Horst P. Horst (1949) by Cecil Beaton. The portrait of himself behind him is by Christian Bérard.
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'lady diana manners as the madonna, 1930' in the best of beaton - cecil beaton (1968)
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Portrait of Katharine Hepburn by Cecil Beaton 1934
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Marilyn Monroe photographed by Cecil Beaton at the Ambassador Hotel in New York, February 1956.
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Cecil Beaton. Adele and Fred Astaire. 1929
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