From the Behind the Silver Screen series, Costume, Makeup, and Hair charts the development of these three crafts in the American film industry from the 1890s to the present. Each chapter examines a different era, revealing how these artistic fields have fostered creative collaboration and improvisation, often fashioning striking looks and ingenious effects out of limited materials, while continually adapting to new technologies, fashions, and economic conditions.  

Movie buffs and film scholars alike often overlook the importance of makeup artists, hair stylists, and costumers. With precious few but notable exceptions, creative workers in these fields have received little public recognition, even when their artistry goes on to inspire worldwide fashion trends.

From the acclaimed Behind the Silver Screen series, Costume, Makeup, and Hair charts the development of these three crafts in the American film industry from the 1890s to the present. Each chapter examines a different era in film history, revealing how the arts of cinematic costume, makeup, and hair, have continually adapted to new conditions, making the transitions from stage to screen, from monochrome to color, and from analog to digital. Together, the book’s contributors give us a remarkable glimpse into how these crafts foster creative collaboration and improvisation, often fashioning striking looks and ingenious effects out of limited materials. 

Costume, Makeup, and Hair not only considers these crafts in relation to a wide range of film genres, from sci-fi spectacles to period dramas, but also examines the role they have played in the larger marketplace for fashion and beauty products. Drawing on rare archival materials and lavish color illustrations, this volume provides readers with both a groundbreaking history of film industry labor and an appreciation of cinematic costume, makeup, and hairstyling as distinct art forms.

"A fascinating book taking a broad historical approach to three interrelated Hollywood crafts—costume, hair, and makeup—linking them to important economic, cultural, and technological changes in the film industry and American society."

          Acknowledgments

          Introduction

          Adrienne L. McLean

1       The Silent Screen, 1895–1927

          Drake Stutesman

2        Classical Hollywood, 1928–1946

          Mary Desjardins

3        Postwar Hollywood, 1947–1967

          Prudence Black and Karen de Perthuis

4        The Auteur Renaissance, 1968–1980

          Robin Blaetz

5        The New Hollywood, 1981–1999

          Tamar Jeffers McDonald

6        The Modern Entertainment Marketplace, 2000-Present

          James Castonguay

          Academy Awards for Best Costume Design, Best Makeup, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling

          Notes

          Selected Bibliography

          Notes on Contributors

          Index