Adrian Adolph Greenberg (1903-1959), better known as “Adrian”, was a famous American costume designer. He studied at the School of Applied and Fine Arts of New York and then in Paris. He created costumes for Broadway theaters until 1925. He left this year for Hollywood where he designed Rudolph Valentino’s suits. From 1926 to 1928, he worked for the DeMille studios.

From 1928 to 1941, he worked at MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) for 250 movies. He dressed iconic movie stars like Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo (“A woman of Affairs” in 1928, “Romance”, “As you desire me” in 1932…), Norma Shearer and Hedy Lamarr.

He designed incredible gowns and accessories like hats. His creations influenced women’s fashion and he set trends ; his designs were copied in American fashion departments (Macy’s New York). For instance, he created the “tambourin” (Little cylindrical hat created by Adrian for Greta Garbo in “As you desire me”, 1932) and the hairnet created for Hedy Lamarr in the movie “I take this woman”, 1939). In 1942, he Launched his own fashion label.

Joan Crawford wearing Adrian (He created costumes of Joan Crawford for her 29 movies at MGM) :

Sources : pinterest.com ; vintagefashionguild.org ; imbd.com ; silverscreenmodes.com ; wwd.com ; weheartvintage.co and “Dictionnaire de la mode” by Georgina O’Hara Callan