Hello, Dolly! 1969 Costumes Irene Sharaff

Streisand / Movies

Hello, Dolly!

Opened December 16, 1969 
[Continued ....]

Dolly’s Costumes

Irene Sharaff won five Academy Awards for costume design: An American in Paris, The King and I, West Side Story, Cleopatra and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? She was also nominated for five Tony Awards. Sharaff designed the West Side Story costumes (both stage and screen versions) as well as Funny Girl—again, costumes for both the stage play and film.

IRENE
SHARAFF

COSTUME DESIGNER

“I see everything in blocks of color,” Sharaff said about her style, “rather like a painting. If I have a leitmotif, a logo, I suspect it is associated with the colors I prefer: reds, pinks, oranges.”

Sharaff considered the period clothes for Hello, Dolly!, circa turn-of-the-century 1890. “It was a very opulent period,” she said, “much more so than what we are going through now. It was a peculiar time, over-elaborate and unclarified.”

Sharaff told a newspaper in 1968 about her design process: “First, I sketch the character as I envision him or her from the script. Then, after meeting the star, I will modify the concept to fit the personality of the actor or actress.

“The clothes have to be functional. A star is severely restricted if he or she cannot move freely in a costume. Barbra Streisand, for instance, has to dance in some of her [Dolly] costumes, so they must move differently than do straight costumes.”

She went on to explain that “I'm also very concerned whether or not a costume will clean well, as many gowns are too expensive to duplicate. For instance, when Barbra sings the title song in Hello, Dolly! the dress she wears is the costliest item of clothing in the entire film. It's completely embroidered in gold bullion and horrendously expensive,” she said.

Although all the stage Dollys had worn a red gown for the big title number, Streisand wanted something different to set her apart. Sharaff designed a shimmering golden gown, said to have cost over $10,000 to construct and is purported to be the most expensive dress ever made for a film. The 2011 Debbie Reynolds auction of the gown described it like this: “Over ½ pound of 14K gold is in the thread and jewel surrounds (some estimates put it as high as 1 pound) accented over its entire surface by gemstones of numerous types and colors, including Swarovski crystals, creating an extraordinary shimmering rainbow effect when turned in the light.” [The gown, shoes, and headpiece sold at auction in 2011 for $123,000.]

Sharaff confirmed that in her 1968 interview when she stated, “The thread used in the Hello, Dolly! dress is made of pure gold. It comes in very fine tubes, is pliable and can be threaded like beads. Because of some technical lighting problems, the pure-gold material was the only way I could achieve the quality that both the director and I wanted.”

Sharaff's rendering of the gold gown
The beautiful gold gown designed by Sharaff
Streisand emerges from her dressing trailer with long train on dress

The gold gown's beading was most likely sewn by Paule Drissi of Getson Eastern Embroidery in Los Angeles. Sharaff had the dress constructed in velvet — the stones and beads made it very heavy. She also originally designed a long train (seen in the photo above).


Streisand and choreographer Michael Kidd fought about the length of the train. Because of the extra fabric, Streisand was unable to execute the kicks that were choreographed for the big number. On top of that, the dancers were stepping on the train. A reporter from Life Magazine related that Michael Kidd told Ernest Lehman: "The train's got to go, Ern."


“Perhaps if you changed the movements, Michael, the dancers wouldn't step on it,” Irene Sharaff said.


“There's another problem,” Kidd said. “The dress is so heavy Barbra won't be able to kick at the end of the number.”


“But, Michael,” Irene Sharaff retorted, “is the kick necessary?”


“I think it is, yeah,” Kidd said. 


“The dress will be finished next week, Michael,” Irene Sharaff said. “Why don't we wait until we see it on Barbra before we talk about changes?”


“Sure Irene,” he replied.  Then Kidd got the last word in: “And if the dress doesn't work, there'll be some changes made.”


In the final film, Dolly's train is visible as she descends the red staircase; after that, the train is gone and Streisand is prancing, kicking, and dancing in the shorter, but still beautiful gown.  

Sharaff’s Designs for Dolly

Below: A photo gallery of Irene Sharaff's work on Hello, Dolly! ... Click the arrows to navigate.
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