Travis Banton
Travis Banton ( born August 18, 1894 in Waco, Texas, † February 2nd 1958 in Los Angeles ) was an American costume designer in the film, which is mainly known for his costumes for Marlene Dietrich.
Life
Travis Banton was born in 1894 as son of Maggie (nee Jones) and Rennie B. Banton in Waco, Texas. When he was two years old, he moved with his family to New York, where he later Columbia University and the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts and attended the Art Students League of New York belonged. After he came on a U- boat in World War I for use, he found as a designer appointments at the prestigious fashion houses of Madame Frances and Lady Duff Gordon Lucile. With his designs he quickly made a talking point. 1920, the actress Mary Pickford became aware of him and let him sew the dress for her wedding to Douglas Fairbanks. Then he opened his own New York Fashion Show. 1923 and 1924 he produced also costumes for three Broadway productions of Ziegfeld Follies.
1924 brought him the film producer Walter Wanger to Hollywood, where he was taken by Paramount Pictures as an assistant designer Howard Greer under contract. The first film in which he was involved as a costume designer, was called, significantly, The Dressmaker from Paris ( Eng.: The tailor from Paris, 1925). This was followed by further orders for films with Pola Negri and Clara Bow. From 1929 to 1938 worked as chief designer at Paramount, he often designed in the 1930s costumes for the female superstars of the studio, including Jeanette MacDonald, Claudette Colbert, Miriam Hopkins and Carole Lombard. Above all, he is known for his multiple collaboration with screen legend Marlene Dietrich, whose glamorous image he decisively shaped with extravagant costumes in films such as Blonde Venus (1932) and The Scarlet Empress ( The Scarlet Empress, 1934), as Adrian for Greta Garbo had done at MGM. Even Dietrich's famous appearance in a tuxedo in Morocco ( Morocco, 1930) was Banton idea. In most cases, he preferred simple and asymmetrical cuts, but it worked with expensive materials, such as satin or lame, and sat also often on beads and fur. So he created for the film Dietrich Engel ( Angel, 1937) with a pearl -embroidered and equipped with Russian sable dress made of chiffon with a value of $ 8,000.
1939 Banton moved to 20th Century Fox, where he again worked for Howard Greer, but not able to build on its previous success as a designer. From 1945 to 1948 he also worked for Universal Studios. In the 1950s he became again independent. In 1956 he was one last time for the show business worked when he designed the costumes for Rosalind Russell for her title role in the Broadway musical Auntie Mame.
Other well-known costume designers like Norman Norell saw Banton as a model, praising his designs especially for their understated elegance, originality and timelessness. Edith Head, his temporary assistant at Paramount and multiple Oscar winner, Banton described as " wonderful designer ". " My potential talent would have remained undetected, he would not have given me the way. In my opinion he was the greatest, "said Head.
Travis Banton died in 1958 at the age of 63 of throat cancer in Los Angeles and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
Filmography (selection)
Costumes: