Travis Banton's reputation really skyrocketed after dressing Mary Pickford for her wedding to Douglas Fairbanks. At the time just a college graduate of Columbia University and an assistant to a dressmaker, Banton would create his own salon in NYC then eventually become a costume designer for the "Ziegfeld Follies." Paramount called in 1924 and his first film credit was "The Dressmaker from Paris" (1925). Banton would become immortalized for dressing Marlene Dietrich in the famous suit in "Morocco" (1930) as well as dressing Carole Lombard and Mae West in their signature looks. In 1927, he was promoted to Head Designer when Howard Greer left to create his own shop, but alcoholism would force him out of the job. He would continue dressing actresses as well as taking designing at Twentieth Century Fox and Universal until the 1950s. After work on the bio-pic "Valentino" (1951), Banton was pushed out of Hollywood entirely from his alcoholism and went back to work at Greer Inc. where he had started. After moving back to California in 1956 and assisting Marusia [Toumaff-Sassi] in starting a fashion salon, Travis Banton would end up passing away of throat cancer two years later.
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Mary Pickford in her wedding dress
(1920) |
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| Marlene Dietrich in "Morocco" (1930) |
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| Claudette Colbert in "Cleopatra" (1934) |
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