It may be early in the Wicked: For Good press tour, but Ariana Grande is already making jaw dropping fashion statements on the red carpet. At the London premiere of the final part of Wicked the actress wore a 73-year-old ballgown designed by famed costume designer Gilbert Adrian, who famously crafted hundreds of costumes for the iconic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.
The vintage black one-shoulder ballgown that was designed by Adrian that Grande wore in London on Monday night was originally worn in the 1952 film, Lovely to Look At, which was directed by Mervyn LeRoy, and based on the 1933 Broadway musical Roberta. The musical starred Kathryn Grayson, Red Skelton, Howard Keel, Marge Champion, Gower Champion, and Ann Miller.
Grande worked with renowned stylist Law Roach to secure the 73-year-old ballgown for the London premiere of Wicked: For Good at the ODEON Luxe Leicester Square. The gown was sourced from Los Angeles’ Lily et Cie, which stocks gowns from the 20th and 21st centuries, she told British Vogue.
Grande remarked on how special it is not only to have the vintage ballgown but also to wear it during the Wicked: For Good press tour. “To now have it in our personal vintage collection, and to wear something made by him on this carpet, feels so emotional and meaningful,” she said. “Law and I cried many times during this fitting.”
While Grande made numerous pink Glinda-inspired fashion statements throughout the Wicked: Part 1 press tour, she said this time around she’s trying to channel Glinda’s darker side. She noted the upcoming press tour looks will be “more mature [and] more emotional.”
Roach has reportedly created a portfolio of looks for Grande for the coming weeks.
“It still feels like an extension of Glinda’s story arc. We’re just telling a different part of her story,” Grande added.
More on Gilbert Adrian
Gilbert Adrian was born Adolph Greenberg on March 3, 1903, in Naugatuck, Connecticut, to Gilbert and Helena (née Pollak) Greenburg. He adopted the professional name Gilbert Adrian in 1922, and was widely known mononymously as Adrian thought most of his career.
He started in costume design in New York, before moving to Hollywood, where he became the head of costumes at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, designing costumes for hundreds of films between 1928 and 1941. When the credits rolled…He was usually credited onscreen with the phrase “Gowns by Adrian.”
Adrian’s bold onscreen looks that he created for stars like Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford influenced fashion trends around the globe, but he is most remembered for his work on The Wizard of Oz and enhancing the world of Oz with Dorothy’s ruby slippers and Glinda’s bubble dress.
Adrian married actress Janet Gaynor in 1939, a relationship that in years since has been called a lavender marriage, since Adrian was openly gay within the film community while Gaynor was rumoured to be gay or bisexual. However, both Adrian and Gaynor went on record to say they were happily married.
Adrian left MGM in 1941 to establish his own couture fashion house in New York, and his fashionable designs for American women became very influential. After a serious heart attack, he returned to Hollywood to work on films like Grand Hotel and the Broadway musical Camelot. He died on September 13, 1959, just before Camelot opened. He is buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where his headstone simply reads: ADRIAN.
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