Unraveling the Complexities of the Marilyn Monroe Look

‘Marilyn Monroe Style’By Terry NewmanACC Art Books, 224 PagesOne sentence at the end of the first section of “Marilyn Monroe Style,” titled “Formative Years,” is evocative of Terry Newman’s purpose. Noting how many “high-profile designers” and fashion houses created clothing for the movie icon, Ms. Newman adds: “However, the clothes she would wear once she became a star; the yin and yang of dressing down and aspiring to dress up is the core of Marilyn’s fashion styling. She was a product of the Great Depression, the war and the Hollywood glitz and glamour of the movies, and her wardrobe announced this.”It is remarkable how many shots of Monroe in jeans reflect her demotic, down-to-earth personality — displayed in family snapshots, then in professional photographs of her at work in a wartime aircraft factory, then filmed as a fish cannery worker in “Clash by Night,” a dancehall performer roughing it with Robert Mitchum in “River of No Return,” and a disenchanted divorcée hovered over by two cowboys (Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift) and a mechanic (Eli Wallach) in “The Misfits.”As Ms. Newman’s perfectly selected biographical notes explain, even on set for her more glamorous movies Monroe often wore jeans and little makeup. At the same time, in her blonde bombshell roles — as in “The Seven Year Itch” and “Some Like it Hot” — she shimmers and sways in garments with a grace akin to the grounded angelic figure in Amy Lowell’s “The Captured Goddess,” with her “rainbow feathers / Aslant on the current of the air,” a poet’s premonition of the skirt-blowing scene so often reproduced in the photographs that have been transmogrified into a 34,000-pound, 26-foot-tall sculpture displayed at Palm Springs, California; Chicago; Stamford, Connecticut; Hamilton, New Jersey; and Bendigo, Australia. A sculpture of similar size has been displayed in China.Ms. Newman notes that Monroe’s wardrobe had to meet the actress’s exacting specifications, and often what designers presented only worked if they had carefully watched her move and knew how to show off her breasts and small waist, as is apparent in this sumptuously produced book that includes 70 color and 86 black-and-white photographs, a discriminating use of biography, and an excellent bibliography. Monroe grew up poor with very few clothes — and nothing like the ensembles her films would later display. It was not much better in the early days of her Hollywood career, when she would show up at parties not that well put together but eager to learn from Joan Crawford, say, who explained what went together.“Marilyn Monroe Style” is as artfully composed as its subject, justifying the publisher’s claim: “Each outfit tells a unique story, revealing her evolution as a cultural icon and the complexities of her identity.” “The Misfits,” Monroe’s last completed film, is the best example of what Ms. Newman means by dressing down and dressing up. Jeans and dresses and a denim jacket all combine to articulate the range of Monroe’s appeal.A separate section on the most important films that defined the Marilyn Monroe look includes stills from “Niagara,” “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” “The Seven Year Itch,” “Some Like it Hot,” and “The Misfits,” illustrating, respectively, her roles in a film noir, a musical comedy, a 1950s sexual fantasy, a 1920s period parody, and a postmodern Western. A section on types of clothes includes Monroe in denim, swimwear, robes, sweaters, and trousers; simple, casual, and chic day dresses; coats, wraps, and furs; and suits, accessories, and evening wear. Monroe as confection is explored in “Marilyn and the Designers She Wore” (Dior, Pucci, Ferragamo, and Chanel). That Monroe was proactive in her own fashioning is apparent in the section on “Marilyn and the Designers she Influenced” (Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Versace, and Dolce & Gabbana). A concluding section features celebrities Monroe has influenced, including Kim Kardashian, Billie Eilish, Beyoncé, and Lana Del Rey.No matter the plethora of books about Marilyn Monroe, Ms. Newman’s book breaks new ground — largely because its author is a fashion historian who has worked in the fashion industry, taught the subject of fashion, and writes with such authority and insight about an artist who was a consummate professional whose work continues to reverberate and inspire generation after generation. Mr. Rollyson is the author of “Amy Lowell Anew: A Biography” and “Marilyn Monroe: A Life of the Actress.”

Unraveling the Complexities of the Marilyn Monroe Look

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