RussellsAbroad: Hollywood Comes to London

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for all the blessings in my life: friends, family, health.

I am also thankful for the excitement and opportunities that living near London brings.

Last week some friends and I saw an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum entitled "Hollywood Costume".

Appropriately, it was someone in America who told my friend about the exhibition. I'm so glad she did.

Imagine seeing the actual iconic costumes worn in movies such as:

Wizard of Oz

Titanic

Gone With the Wind

Saturday Night Fever

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Pirates of the Caribbean

Harry Potter

Superman

and so many more.

There was the dress Marilyn Monroe wore standing over the subway grate in "The Seven Year Itch".

Marilyn Monroe's "subway dress"

There was Dorothy's blue gingham dress from "The Wizard of Oz".

Dorothy

The actual ruby-red slippers were the grand finale. This was the first time they have left the United States. They were on loan for only a limited time. We got to see the faded real ones before they were replaced by bright red replicas.

Wizard of Oz red slippers with dress in background

Remember Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds"? I loved watching that scary movie with my sisters when I was young. We saw the green suit worn by Tippi Hedren. I liked how the mannequin was posed as if falling backwards from being attacked by birds.

Costume from "The Birds"

The creators of the exhibit did a good job with the presentation and with educating the audience on the important role of costume designers. Hollywood-themed music played in the background. Actors' faces were put with the costume, sometimes a still photo, sometimes a moving video of the face.