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Jean Louis | |
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 Jean Louis in 1973 | |
| Born | Jean Louis Berthault (1907-10-05)October 5, 1907 Paris, France |
| Died | April 8, 1997(1997-04-08) (aged 89) Palm Springs, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Costume designer |
| Spouses | |
Jean Louis (bornJean Louis Berthault; October 5, 1907 – April 8, 1997) was a French-American costume designer. He won anAcademy Award forThe Solid Gold Cadillac (1956).
Before coming to Hollywood, he worked in New York for fashion entrepreneurHattie Carnegie, where the clientele included Joan Cohn, the wife ofColumbia Pictures studio chiefHarry Cohn.[1][2]
He worked as head designer forColumbia Pictures from 1944 to 1960. His most famous works includeRita Hayworth'sblack satin strapless dress fromGilda (1946),Marlene Dietrich's celebrated beaded souffle stagewear for hercabaret world tours, as well as the sheer, sparkling gown thatMarilyn Monroe wore when she sang "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" toJohn F. Kennedy in 1962.[3]
The dress was so tight that he is believed to have actually sewn it while Monroe was wearing it. The idea of a dress being a nude color, with crystals coating it, stunned audiences. It gave the illusion that Monroe was nude, except for discretely placed rhinestones covering her head to toe.[citation needed]
Louis had originally designed a version of the dress forMarlene Dietrich, who wore it in her concert shows. An impressed Monroe asked Dietrich about it, who told her how the dress's illusion worked, and sent her to Louis to design a similar dress for her Kennedy appearance. While Dietrich had been seen wearing her version before Monroe, the press coverage surrounding Monroe's appearance at Madison Square Garden in her style of gown swept the globe. This dress became — besides the white one from "The Seven Year Itch" — Marilyn Monroe's most famous dress, selling at auction in 2016 for 4.8 million dollars.[4]
In 1993, four years after the death of his second wife, Louis married former clientLoretta Young; they remained married until his death in 1997.[2] He had designed Young's wardrobe for her TV programThe Loretta Young Show (1953–61), an anthology show noted for Young's show-opening and closing scenes that had viewers tuning in especially to view her high-fashion outfit for that week. Young was known as the best-dressed actress in America at that time.[1][5]
For over forty years, Louis designed clothes for almost every star in Hollywood. Around sixty of his designs appeared in movies, and he was eventually nominated for 13 Academy Awards. Some of his clients included Ginger Rogers, Irene Dunne,Lana Turner,Vivien Leigh,Joan Crawford,Julie Andrews,Katharine Hepburn, andJudy Garland. Some of his film credits included,A Star Is Born,Ship of Fools,From Here to Eternity,Thoroughly Modern Millie, and he won an Oscar for his designs inThe Solid Gold Cadillac in 1956.[5]
In 1937, a year after Louis immigrated to the United States, he designed theCarnegie suit, a suit that became an icon in the fashion world. The Carnegie suit was one of the first fashions to become very well-liked as an American name design, and its fitted blazer and long pencil skirt was worn by several actresses and society women at the time.[2]
TheDuchess of Windsor became one of his most famous clients, as well as the First LadyNancy Reagan in the 1980s.[2]
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