Adrian

Adrian also has an entry in the 1940s section, for the years after he left the studio and opened his own salon. But the 1930s are where he became the most influential designer in America, without ever having his own label. As MGM's chief costume designer, he dressed the studio's biggest stars - Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, Norma Shearer, and Joan Crawford - and his clothes were seen by millions of people every week.

Three of his designs show just how far his influence reached. For Garbo in Romance (1930), he designed a small, tilted, feathered hat that sparked the Eugénie hat craze of 1931. For Crawford in Letty Lynton (1932), he designed a white organdy gown with enormous ruffled sleeves that department stores copied in huge numbers - the frequently repeated claim is that Macy's sold hundreds of thousands, which is probably exaggerated, but it was clearly a massive hit. And for Harlow, he created the white bias-cut satin gowns that defined the bias-cut silhouette on screen. His work with Crawford's shoulders also helped launch the decade's broad-shouldered line.

What I love about Adrian in the 1930s is how well he understood the camera. He designed for black-and-white film, so he thought in terms of texture, sheen, and silhouette rather than colour - which is why he loved satin, sequins, and lamé, and why his gowns look so striking even now. He ended the decade with two very different triumphs: the all-female cast of The Women (1939), and Dorothy's ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz the same year.