2002 HALL OF FAME

Helen Rose

"To make women look feminine has always been your aim, and you have always succeeded," wrote Cyd Charisse. Helen Rose understood how to make women move beautifully; whether walking down the aisle, dancing down a football field, or taking a high dive, she created costumes that played up their strengths, masked any faults, and made women beautiful in their new skins.

As a 16 year old in prohibition era Chicago, Helen, self taught and hands-on created costumes for "Zeigfeld of the West" variety shows. Her imaginative solutions, including dancing marabou animals and transforming sequined butterflies, earned her applause.

Years later, she would create a new world for Susan Hayward in I Want to Live. Moving with her parents to Los Angeles, she worked as a milliner and sketch artist before joining the costume house owned by Fachon and Marco. The introduced her to rising musical stars and Shepton and Johnson of the Ice Follies, many of whom became fruitful relationships that would last throughout her career.

Hired by L.B. Mayer, primarily to keep her away from the competition, Helen joined a staff of 12 in-house designers headed by Irene Sharaff at MGM. Her experience in the dance and variety world proved valuable as she met her first assignments with authority and wit. Just think of Lucille Ball in "Pink Circus" in Ziegfeld Follies, the starched simplicity for Judy Garland and Cyd Charisse in The Harvey Girls, or any Esther Williams’ glamorous, waterproof garb.

Her leading ladies spoke often of her nurturing and understanding way. "Helen was also a diplomat," wrote Grace Kelly. "She knew how to steer actresses away from a favorite color or line if it did not suit them in the role. I observed her tactfully get a producer or director who was fixed on an idea on the right course to flatter the actress and the role.

"While continuing to delight audiences with her designs for musical, Helen Rose soon expanded her repertoire to include contemporary and period films. Still, "even her non-danced-in clothes helped an actress create whatever illusion of movement she needed," recalled Marge Champion. The range of her work is great: the seductive drape of white chiffon on Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, the regal modesty of the Princess of Monaco’s wedding dress, the exuberance of On TheTown, the laissez-faire sophistication of High Society, and the restrained period-perfect elegance of The Swan. In each, women represented at their best, with feminine grace. Using largely unembellished fabric, her clothes glided over the form.

After Eight academy Award nominations, 2 Oscars, and years of influencing fashion through her film designs, Helen Rose established her own costume line maintaining her high standards of workmanship and design.

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