BLACK SILK SATIN DRESS AND COAT WITH FOX FUR TRIM

1975-79​, Designer: Jean Louis​, Gift of Roberta Olden​

As Jeanine Basinger wrote in A Woman’s View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women, 1930-1960, “Fashion and glamour were direct connections to the audiences’ need to see things they could never have and to experience feelings absent from their daily lives. Clothing for women in the movies became a subtle instrument, teaching the need for conformity, stressing the woman’s role as sex object or love partner, and showing the viewers consumer goods that they would want to purchase for themselves. In 1930s and 40s film, women were defined by their clothes, and the clothes were fantastic, outrageous, and astonishing!” ​

The outrageous luxury of earlier film costumes was transformed by Ginger Rogers and award-winning Hollywood designer Jean Louis into this 1970s revue costume: glossy black silk satin and sparkling white rhinestones contrast sharply with luxurious ivory fox fur. The shape of the dress beneath consists of a skirt made of long, narrow strip.​

The cover of a 1977 Ginger Rogers Show playbill features Ginger in the fur-trimmed coat and dress. View select pages of the playbill.