Bernard Newman (designer)

Bernard Newman (18 November 1903 - 30 November 1966) was head designer for Bergdorf Goodman and head costume designer for RKO Pictures. He designed costumes for some 35 movies, including costumes for Ginger Rogers, Katharine Hepburn, Lucille Ball and Helen Broderick. He was posthumously included in the Costume Designers Guild Hall of Fame in 2004. [http://www.costumedesignersguild.com/cdg-awards-recipient.asp?AwardID=33&awardtype=3 Costume Designers Guild] 2004 Hall of Fame]

Biography

Bernard Newman studied in Paris at the Art Student's League. He started working at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury goods department store in Manhattan, as a window dresser. He later became the head designer for Bergdorf Goodman, [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=Vpzp0rtDYCsC&pg=PA67&dq=%22bernard+newman%22&lr=&as_brr=3&ei=ukQHSNePCafSigG5zN2ADA&sig=afn52nrmoQl1zhLcyPikT7rtvYk#PPA67,M1 Sarah Berry in "Screen style: Fashion and femininity in 1930s Hollywood"] page 15 (2000)] and his clothes were worn by film stars like Kay Francis. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=QWRWZu2EsKAC&pg=PA155&dq=%22bernard+newman%22&lr=&as_brr=3&ei=FXYISNCUA5W2ygSt8_iNAQ&sig=xqo_xF4FKv8m45CEh22reF7LhAM Lynn Kear and John Rossman in "Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career"] page 155 (2006)]

Bernard Newman started working as costume designer in the film industry from 1933 on, working mainly for RKO Pictures for the next three years. Newman is best remembered for the costumes he designed for Ginger Rogers in movies like "Top Hat" and "Swing Time". [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=EwOcmmnxKbwC&pg=PA45&dq=%22bernard+newman%22&lr=&as_brr=3&ei=lFQHSI3cIoHAigG90-2LAg&sig=3npKeV8KZ-y3exaZdb4-36c5fO4 Gregory Votolato in "American Design in the Twentieth Century: Personality and Performance"] page 45 (1995)] cite book
last = Mueller
first = John
title = Astaire Dancing - The Musical Films
publisher = Hamish Hamilton
date = 1986
location = London
pages = p.415
id = ISBN 0-241-11749-6 notes that John Harkrider designed the "Swing Time" Silver Sandal Set ("Never Gonna Dance") and the costumes used both on that set and on the "Bogangles of Harlem" set] He made a blue dress with ostrich feathers, to Rogers's specification, which she wore in the "Cheek to Cheek" sequence and which gave her the nickname of "Feathers". [ [http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/?cid=133542&rss=mrqe Turner Classic Movies] on "Top Hat"] cite book
last = Rogers
first = Ginger
title = Ginger, My Story
publisher = Harper Collins
date = 1991
location = New York
pages = p.143
id = ISBN 0-060-18308-X Rogers: "I designed the dress and I was going to wear it!"] 15 of his costumes for the 1935 movie "Roberta" were reproduced and merchandised by the Modern Merchandising Bureau. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=Vpzp0rtDYCsC&pg=PA67&dq=%22bernard+newman%22&lr=&as_brr=3&ei=ukQHSNePCafSigG5zN2ADA&sig=afn52nrmoQl1zhLcyPikT7rtvYk#PPA67,M1 Sarah Berry in "Screen style: Fashion and femininity in 1930s Hollywood"] page 67-68 (2000)] Other films he worked on include "Sylvia Scarlett" with Katharine Hepburn and "You Can't Take It with You".

Notes

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0628020/ Bernard Newman] at the IMDb