Tony Duquette

'Tony Duquette' by Wendy Goodman 

and Hutton Wilkinson is my big book love of the moment. 

This book is filled with the most gorgeous and glamorous pages. There are both colour and black and white images of Tony Duquette's work, set designs, interior drawings and photographs of his jewellery and costume templates. There are magical portraits by photographer Man Ray and original sketches and designs from the Tony Duquette archives. 

 

This costume was designed by Tony Duquette for an MGM production of 'Kismet' in 1955- I love the spray tanning through the fishnets!

Tony Duquette had an outlandish style and he seemed to be able to turn his hand to anything creative, whether it be wardrobe design, commercial shop and window displays, private interiors, gardens or film sets. He was both artist and sculptor, dressmaker and seamstress and seemingly a man blessed with remarkable taste and an eye for detail.

This photograph shows Arlene Dahl wearing a mask and headdress designed by Tony Duquette.

His rooms were colouful, brave and eccentric - there seems to be no rules as if life was a mere fantasy, a further extension of the film sets he designed. The rooms appear to be crowded - full of extraordinary detail and mad clashes of colour. 

 

This is not a blueprint for today's living but if you feel like being whisked away to a fairy tale land of skillful artistry then Tony Duquette is the one. 

As journalist and novelist Dominick Dunne writes, 'he always made me gasp'. I couldn't agree more.