Timeline Categories: 1940s-1950s

World War II inspired escapism in audiences. The decade opened with Walter Plunkett’s civil war drama Gone with the Wind, and Adrian’s costume collaboration with Joan Crawford minted the strong-shouldered silhouette of the decade. Edward Manson Stevenson designed the legendary movie Citizen Kane and It’s a Wonderful Life. Casablanca, by Orry-Kelly, epitomized Film Noir. In contrast, Fifties postwar affluence produced images like Marilyn Monroe standing over a subway grate dressed in William Travilla’s billowing white halter. Moss Mabry shunned glamour for gritty realism in Rebel Without A Cause, appealing to the newest demographic, the teenager. As the Hollywood studio system dissolved, in 1949 the first costume Oscar was given, and in 1953 The Costume Designers Guild Local 892 was organized.