Black evening gown of transparent silk velvet with wide band of beading at neck and sleeves. Knee-high cartridge pleated ruffle at side and back. Original gauntlets and belt are missing.
This gown was designed by Adrian for Metro Goldwin Mayer and worn by Greta Garbo in the film Inspiration.
Adrian Adolph Greenberg (March 3, 1903 — September 13, 1959), widely known as Adrian, was an American costume designer whose most famous costumes were for The Wizard of Oz and other Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films of the 1930s and 1940s. During his career, he designed costumes for over 250 films and his screen credits usually read as “Gowns by Adrian”. On occasion, he was credited as Gilbert Adrian, a combination of his father’s forename and his own.
Adrian was hired by Rudolph Valentino’s wife Natacha Rambova to design costumes for A Sainted Devil in 1924. He would also design for Rambova’s film, What Price Beauty? (1925). Adrian became head costume designer for Cecil B. DeMille’s independent film studio. In 1928, Cecil B. DeMille moved temporarily to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Adrian was hired as chief costume designer at the studio. While DeMille eventually returned to Paramount, Adrian stayed on at MGM. In his career at that studio, Adrian designed costumes for over 200 films.
Adrian left MGM in 1941 to set up his own independent fashion house, though he still worked closely with Hollywood. A serious heart attack in 1952 forced the closure of Adrian, Ltd. in Beverly Hills. In 1959 he was asked to design costumes for the upcoming Broadway musical Camelot. In the early stages of this project, Adrian died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 56.