This engaging pictorial book explores the legacy of the cinematic costume designer, starting with the birth of the modern motion picture industry on a prime piece of California real estate known as Hollywood. Readers will discover how film clothing evolved from actors and actresses selecting items from their home wardrobes... to customized outfits - everything from suits of armor to ball gowns to office attire to lingerie - created by a studio designer and a dedicated staff of costumers. They will also encounter the actress from each decade who displayed a distinct fashion sense, on and off the screen, women who made a costumer’s job less demanding by embodying the character and evoking the time, place, and circumstances the designer wished to portray.