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Over 100 original outfits worn by memorable movie stars will be collected in an exhibition which will be held at the Victoria & Ambert’s museum in London, this October. Among the other clothes you can admire, the Givenchy creation worn by Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's, the dress that Gwyneth Paltrow wore in Shakespeare in Love, the one that Marilyn Monroe had in Some Like It Hot, and the famous velvet dress created with the curtain that Scarlett O'Hara wore in Gone With The Wind.

In addition to the haute couture creation there will be other garments less glamorous but equally recognizable as the military jacket by Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver and the leather jacket of Indiana Jones.

"My starting point was thinking not so much about the costumes but about the characters that have become embedded in popular culture” - says the costume designer Deborah Nadoolman, curator of the whole set-up - "I went to my husband [film director John Landis] and friends and colleagues and asked, 'Who do you love? If you went to the V&A, who would you want to see?' Along with every outfit there will be: movies, montages and interviews with the film's costume designers, directors and actors.

 The exhibition will also include the dress worn by Kate Winslet in Titanic, the outfit of Jack Sparrow in The Pirates of the Caribbean, the clothes designed for Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain, and the Dorothy Gale dress for the movie The Wizard of Oz.  "This dress was made in 1939 at the greatest moment of MGM Hollywood history," said Nadoolman Landis referring to the Dorothy dress. "The woman representing the owner asked if there was something wrong with it because I looked so upset. Because I hope this doesn't sound absurd, but I cried. In that moment, I felt like Howard Carter seeing Tutankhamun's sarcophagus."

The love for cinema and for the costume, or at least a significant part of it, could not have found a more passionate performer.

Linda Lazzaro

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