Monday, September 16, 2024

Elizabeth Taylor gown and hat designed by Walter Plunkett

 From the epic "Raintree County" made in 1957 


One of the great beauties of classic Hollywood, a truly great actress, and one of my all time favorites, Elizabeth Taylor had a remarkable career and life that still fascinates to this day. From her breakout starring role in "National Velvet" to her 1950's classics like "Father of the Bride" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" to her Oscar winning roles in "Butterfield 8," and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," she played almost every kind of part over the years in her storied career. Her private life at times eclipsed her professional life, even overshadowing some of her great performances. Personally I've always felt she was probably the most beautiful woman that ever lived. No wonder she played Cleopatra, she'd give the real Cleopatra a run for her money! Taylor remains one of the biggest and most famous stars of the classic era, or any era for that matter. 

 


The gown is grey silk with a black chiffon and lace overlay, and black silk waistband. The hat is grey silk over straw, with a black velvet band. Walter Plunkett was known for his period designs, most famously for "Gone With the Wind" which Raintree is similar to. He designed some lovely gowns for both Taylor and co-star Eva Marie Saint. 






Here's the original wardrobe test shot where she's posing with co-star Montgomery Clift. My thanks to the Academy Library for providing this rare image!



The gown was originally sold in the MGM auction, lot W-506, and over the years it was sold in a few other auctions at Christie's and elsewhere. It's nice to now have it in the archive, and the hat came along many years later surfacing in Debbie Reynolds' collection. It was for sale one day on her website as her son Todd was selling off more of the costumes and things that hadn't gone to auction. I was shocked when I saw it and so glad to be able to reunite it with the gown!

The image below shows it being worn in the movie, however the scene was cut from the version that can be seen today. Originally Raintree was over 3 hours long for the premiere roadshow engagement, but about 15 minutes were cut when it went into regular theaters. There has been talk over the years of restoring the movie to it's original length in HD, but nothing has happened yet. It can still be seen on TCM from time to time. At least there are the great images of her in it. 


Here's the label in the hat, and below that one of the labels in the gown



1692 is the production number for Raintree. MGM used a sequential numbering system starting with three numbers back in the early 1930's, so by 1957 they had progressed this far. Costumes were typically labeled with the movie's production number and the star's name.

This image (the same seen at the top) is pictured in a "making of" booklet that came out when the movie was released -
 

 Thank you for checking out Ms. Taylor and the site!