Travis Banton (August 18, 1894 – February 2, 1958) was an American costume designer. He is perhaps best known for his long collaboration with actress Marlene Dietrich and director Josef von Sternberg. He is generally considered one of the most important Hollywood costume designers of the golden age. Born in Waco, Texas, Banton moved to New York City as a child. He was educated at Columbia University and at the Art Students League of New York, where he studied art and fashion design. An early apprenticeship with a high-society costume dressmaker earned him fame. His reputation was established when

Mary Pickford Gladys Louise Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American film actress and producer. A Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood, pioneer in the American film industry with a Hollywood care ...

selected one of his dresses for her wedding to

Douglas Fairbanks Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor and filmmaker best known for being the first actor to play the masked Vigilante Zorro and other swashbuckler film, swashbu ...

. He opened his dressmaking salon in New York City, and he was asked to create costumes for the Ziegfeld Follies. In 1924, Banton moved to Hollywood when

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

contracted with him to create costumes for '' The Dressmaker from Paris'', his first film. Beginning with

Norma Talmadge Norma Marie Talmadge (May 2, 1894 – December 24, 1957) was an American actress and film producer of the silent film, silent era. A major box-office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among ...

in ''

Poppy A poppy is a flowering plant in the subfamily Papaveroideae of the family Papaveraceae. Poppies are herbaceous plants, often grown for their colourful flowers. One species of poppy, '' Papaver somniferum'', is the source of the narcotic drug ...

'', Banton designed clothing for Pola Negri and Clara Bow in the 1920s. In the 1930s and 1940s, Banton designed for Kay Francis, Lilyan Tashman,

Sylvia Sidney Sylvia Sidney (born Sophia Kosow; August 8, 1910 – July 1, 1999) was an American stage, screen, and film actress whose career spanned 70 years. She rose to prominence in dozens of leading roles in the 1930s. She was nominated for the Academy ...

Gail Patrick Gail Patrick (born Margaret LaVelle Fitzpatrick; June 20, 1911 – July 6, 1980) was an American film actress and television producer. Often cast as the bad girl or the other woman, she appeared in more than 60 feature films between 1932 a ...

, Helen Vinson, and Claudette Colbert. Ultimately, Banton may be best remembered for forging the style of Carole Lombard, Marlene Dietrich, and

Mae West Mary Jane "Mae" West (August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American actress, singer, comedian, screenwriter, and playwright whose career spanned more than seven decades. Recognized as a prominent sex symbol of her time, she was known ...

. Dietrich and Banton had an especially close and successful collaboration. His work for Dietrich frequently is referenced by designers. Glamour, subtle elegance, and exquisite fabrics endeared Banton to Hollywood's celebrated beauties and made him one of the sought-after costume designers of his era. As viewings of such films as '' The Gilded Lily'' (1935) and ''

Desire Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like "wanting", "wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of affa ...

'' (1936) reveal, his costume designs were marked by form-flattering cuts (often on the

bias Bias is a disproportionate weight ''in favor of'' or ''against'' an idea or thing, usually in a way that is inaccurate, closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair. Biases can be innate or learned. People may develop biases for or against an individ ...

), rich fabrics (such as

satin A satin weave is a type of Textile, fabric weave that produces a characteristically glossy, smooth or lustrous material, typically with a glossy top surface and a dull back; it is not durable, as it tends to snag. It is one of three fundamen ...

and lamé), and extravagant textures (beads, fur, and feathers). He collaborated closely with directors and actresses in order to fulfil their vision. When designer Howard Greer left Paramount, Banton was promoted to head designer and was responsible for dressing the studio's stars. Because of his worsening alcoholism, and according to some commentators, at the instigation of his assistant

Edith Head Edith Claire Head (née Posener, October 28, 1897 – October 24, 1981) was an American film costume designer who won a record eight Academy Awards for Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Best Costume Design between 1949 and 1973, making he ...

, Banton was forced to leave Paramount. He returned to designing privately for loyal stars and occasionally designed for Twentieth Century-Fox from 1939 to 1941 and Universal from 1945 to 1948.

Notable design projects

* Clara Bow in '' It'' and '' Wings'', 1927 * Kay Francis in '' Trouble in Paradise'', 1932 *

in '' I'm No Angel'', 1933 and '' Belle of the Nineties'', 1934 * Claudette Colbert in ''

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

'', 1934 *

Loretta Young Loretta Young (born Gretchen Michaela Young; January 6, 1913 – August 12, 2000) was an American actress. Starting as a child, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1989. She received numerous honors including an Academy Awards ...

in ''

The Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

'', 1935 * Marlene Dietrich in ''

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

'', 1930, '' Shanghai Express'', 1932, '' The Scarlet Empress'', 1934 and '' The Devil Is a Woman'', 1935 * Carole Lombard in '' My Man Godfrey'', 1936 '' Nothing Sacred'', 1937 and '' Made for Each Other'', 1939 * Dolores Costello in '' Yours for the Asking'', 1936 * Linda Darnell in '' The Mark of Zorro'', 1940 * Alice Faye in '' Lillian Russell'' and ''Tin Pan Alley'', 1940 * Carmen Miranda in '' Down Argentine Way'', 1940, and '' That Night in Rio'', 1941 * Linda Darnell and

Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer, and Pin-up model, pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of ...

in '' Blood and Sand'', 1941 * Betty Grable in '' Moon Over Miami'', 1941 *

in '' Cover Girl'', 1944 * Joan Bennett in '' Scarlet Street'', 1945 * Merle Oberon in '' A Song to Remember'', 1945 *

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedian, producer, and studio executive. She was recognized by ''Time (magazine), Time'' in 2020 as one of the most influential women of the 20th century for h ...

in ''

Lover Come Back Lover Come Back may refer to: *''Lover Come Back'', a 1940 novel by Clair Blank *Lover Come Back (1931 film), ''Lover Come Back'' (1931 film), starring Constance Cummings *New Moon (1940 film), ''New Moon'' (1940 film), a musical also known as ''Lov ...

'', 1946 * Joan Fontaine in '' Letter from an Unknown Woman'', 1948

References

*Chierichetti, David. ''Hollywood Costume Design'', Harmony Books, 1977. .

External links

*
Travis Banton
at Virtual History {{DEFAULTSORT:Banton, Travis 1894 births 1958 deaths American fashion designers American costume designers People from Waco, Texas Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)