Travilla: The Man Who Dressed Marilyn, at Julien’s

First posted here on November 3, 2013

Items from the estate of Hollywood costumer William Travilla will go under the hammer at the Icons and Idols: Fashion event at Julien’s Auctions on November 8, 2013, the Daily Mail reports.

“Sketches of Marilyn Monroe’s most iconic dresses, drawn by costume designer William Travilla, are going up for auction this week.

Each signed artwork also includes Travilla’s original annotations. ‘Marilyn Monroe, wind scene at subway’ [from The Seven Year Itch] is written alongside the [1954] sketch of Monroe’s famous pleated ivory cocktail dress – which is set to sell for $10,000.

Also included in the auction is Travilla’s costume sketch of Monroe in a gold pleated dress for the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, set to fetch $8,000.

And the ‘tropical heatwave’ scene costume sketch of Monroe for the 1954 film There’s No Business like Show Business is estimated to sell for $7,000.

There are 400 lots in total for the 2013 Icons & Idols: Fashion auction, ranging from Travilla’s original sketches, to costumes, patterns and watercolor renderings.

Travilla-designed dresses inspired by Monroe’s costumes are also up for auction, and are expected to reach up to $30,000.”

 

UPDATE: The top seller among the Marilyn-related lots was the costume sketch for The Seven Year Itch, reaching a high bid of $25,000; and a set of photos including wardrobe tests of Marilyn in Travilla costumes sold for $12,500.

These costume sketches for Marilyn’s gold lamé dress from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes sold for $6,080 (below left) and $4,800 (right.)

The ‘Heat Wave’ sketch fetched $4,687.50, while another costume sketch from There’s No Business sold for $2,880.

A set of four framed prints of Travilla’s designs for There’s No Business Like Show Business – including costume sketches for ‘After You Get What You Want (You Don’t Want It),’ and the film’s finale – sold for $2,240.

This candid 1952 photo of Marilyn and Travilla sold for $2,500. As was a shamefully common practice in the pre-civil rights era, their unnamed companion (possibly musician Hank Jones) was cropped from the picture when it first appeared in print.

A plaque marking Travilla’s Oscar nomination for How to Marry a Millionaire (jointly, with Charles LeMaire) fetched $2,048.

And finally, this framed seven-and-a-half-foot blow-up poster of Marilyn’s ‘A New Wrinkle’ nude calendar pose for Tom Kelley – created from an original print inscribed, ‘To Billy, my love- Please dress me forever, I love You, Marilyn Monroe,’ and complete with a vintage 20 by 15 inch reprint of the original – sold for $1,536.