The Elizabeth Taylor Project

Okay, so the idea is nothing new, sewing garments either copied or inspired by movie stars or musicians of yore. (Maybe 'yore' isn't fair, lol) But I looooove love love the outfits that Maggie the Cat wears in 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' -which I've seen at least a half dozen times. They're just so classic and pretty, and it doesn't help that Elizabeth Taylor wears them so well. So to start off this new project I'll be making these:

It's surprisingly difficult to find a good picture of this outfit, but it's basically a classic white button-up blouse and a beige coloured pencil skirt worn with a dark orange belt.
And the Maggie the Cat dress:

This dress was designed by Helen Rose and apparently after the film Elizabeth requested a copy of the it for herself, which then ballooned into more requests from other women, so Helen produced them as ready to wear garments. I wish they still sold it now! I've linked the photo to a web page with some interesting bits about both the dress and Helen's career. It's certainly peaked my interest in learning more about her and her work. Oh, and there's also a bit of drama concerning Irene (Lentz I think, they both worked on 'The Harvey Girls' together, which is a great Judy Garland film if you haven't seen it) and also Edith Head. Would anyone be interested in more thorough posts on costume designers?
More updates on patterns and progress soon, for now I'll leave you with this screen shot of Paul Newman:

Much better looking than on the salad dressing bottle, don't you think?