Roberta and Lovely To Look At: Spectacle on Film

Roberta and Lovely To Look At are both adaptations of a hit Broadway musical

from 1933 entitled Roberta.1 The Broadway musical is based off of a 1933 novel entitled

Gowns By Roberta, written by Alice Duer Miller.2 These films share a rough plotline,

but they differ in how they represent clothing and the people who make them. Roberta

was directed by William A. Seiter, and the costumes were designed by Bernard

Newman.3 Key actors included Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rogers. The film

was created by RKO.4 Lovely to Look At was MGM’s 1952 remake of the story and was

directed by Mervyn LeRoy, with costumes designed by Adrian.5 The film starred

Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, and Ann Miller.6

The essential plot of these films revolves around an American man (John, a

former football player in Roberta, and Al, an aspiring producer of a Broadway musical

in Lovely to Look At) inheriting a French fashion house called Gowns by Roberta. At the

fashion house, the man meets Stephanie, the late Roberta’s assistant and the house’s

designer. The house is struggling financially, and according to the men in the story, the

designs are unattractive. The fashion house teams up with the arriving American men,

and they attempt to create a bold new collection to reinvigorate the brand. Both films

include extended musical fashion shows shortly before their endings.

1
Miller, “Roberta.”
2
“Roberta Overview.”
3
Seiter, Roberta.
4
Seiter, Roberta.
5
LeRoy, Lovely to Look At.
6
LeRoy, Lovely to Look At.
 There are some key differences in the plots of the two films. In Roberta, John

Kent, who inherits the brand, is accompanied by an entire band. In Lovely to Look At,

this band is condensed into three producers attempting to bankroll a Broadway show,

which later fails. Roberta also features Ginger Rogers in a subplot about a fake Polish

countess, who’s really an American named Lizzie. Lovely to Look At replaces the role

with Ann Miller as a performer named Bubbles. Lovely to Look At also adds a more

complicated series of romantic hijinks. A 1952 New York Times article describes: “while

the yarn was not a sparkling gem in the first place, the plot lines of ‘Lovely to Look At,’

…are, if anything, a shade duller than the origin.”7

As the films are centered around the same source material, many of the scenes

and musical numbers are parallel. Both films feature the musical number “I’ll Be Hard

to Handle”. Lovely to Look At’s version of the scene has Ann Miller’s character doing a

major tap dance with a tuxedoed male chorus. During this, she wears a sparkling lilac

purple bodysuit (Fig. 1). This ensemble is similar to the kinds of costumes worn by Las

Vegas showgirls in this era, as can be seen in figure 2. The bodysuit includes a skirt-like

shape made from fringe, which is covered with a large tulle drape in the rear. Miller

wears it with sparkling gloves and a towering headdress. The costume is not intended to

be pure fashion, but it still conforms to the ideal of the decade. The ensemble’s

wasp-waist silhouette and heavy use of tulle resemble this 1956 cocktail dress by Lanvin

(Fig. 3)

In contrast, Roberta frames the scene more casually. The lyrics of the song are

shortened, and the majority of it is a dance break with Rogers and Astaire. Ginger

Roger’s version of the entertainer character comes off as more relatable, even though

7
W, “’ Lovely to Look At,’ Based on Musical Comedy, ‘Roberta,’ Arrives at Music Hall.”
she’s trying to pretend she’s a countess. In her version of the song, she’s wearing

functionally the same look as Astaire (Fig. 4). Her pantsuit has the appearance of being

composed of a white blouse and wide-leg black pants. She’s significantly less exposed

than Miller, and her depiction focuses less on her sexualization. The pantsuit is built to

be dancewear but still looks like clothing that could’ve been worn casually. In 1939,

Butterick released patterns of a similar-looking blouse-trouser combination for home

sewists (Fig 5). The patterns have the same raised waistline and bishop sleeve as Rogers’

pantsuit. In costuming Roberta, Newman made the level of glamour in the film seem

more attainable.

In Lovely to Look At, the final fashion show is attention-grabbing and theatrical.

Adrian essentially designed three or four separate small collections for different themes.

The fashion show depicts mermaids and jewelry theft and culminates with an elaborate

fairytale scene, in which models are attended to by gold-encrusted knights. One can see

specifically how Adrian heightened the drama of his film costumes in the final chapter of

the show. One of the models wears a facsimile of the infamous party dress designed by

Edith Head for A Place in the Sun (1951), except through Adrian’s lens, the dress has

become a saturated lavender, and the appliques have become so prominent that they

escape the gown and extend onto an organza shawl (Fig. 6/7).

When the audience arrives at Stephanie’s gown, the splendor of Adrian’s designs

is loud enough that the gown needs to be utterly spectacular to stand out. The white

gown has a gigantic bell-shaped skirt and is covered with clouds of gold glittered tulle

(Fig. 8). The gown is wildly impractical, and it’s hard to imagine Kathryn Grayson being

able to sit down while wearing it. Even from a distance as she emerges, the dress

shimmers. It is topped with an illusion neckline that extends into a capelet effect around
her shoulders. A Balmain dress from c.1950-1955 uses a similar style of embellishment,

in which rhinestones and sequins appear to descend onto a white dress (Fig. 9). When

compared to a couture gown, the elements of Stephanie’s dress differ in scale in relation

to her body. While the couture dress has smaller details that are intended to look

proportional at close range, the tulle on the Adrian dress needs to be large enough to

stand out at a distance and read on-screen.

In Roberta, the fashion show is highly theatrical, but not quite at the level of the

fashion show in Lovely to Look At. Models waltz by, and the camera stops for a moment

on each look. Fred Astaire makes quips about the dresses, selling them to the audience

over some light music. The clothing is high fashion, its appearance is closer to that of

contemporary Paris couture. The looks are high quality and are made from expensive

materials (Fig. 10). At the same time, they wouldn't feel out of place in the real world.

Newman, as an American womenswear designer, highly emphasized the Parisian canon

when it came to fashion. He said to Women’s Wear Daily in 1934, “We couldn’t [create

fashion] without the Paris influence and I don’t think we ever will. What we excel in here

is adapting.”8 Roberta was the first film that Newman costumed, as he left his position

as the lead designer at Bergdorff & Goodman for RKO in 1934.9 With his regard for more

traditional centers of design, it’s natural that his costumes would balance the look of

couture with the exuberance of Hollywood. In designing Roberta, he sought to reduce

the “ridiculous character of feminine fashions in many movie productions.”10 Roberta’s

glamour is closer to how high-end clothing actually looked in the ‘30s.

8
“Doubts Design Center, Can Be Made In N. Y.: Bernard Newman Of Bergdorf & Goodman Thinks
Adapting Is Forte Of Designers Here”
9
Bernard Newman to Design Fashions for Rko Pictures: Leaves Post as Head of Bergdorff & Goodman
Designing Staff — no Successor Named Yet.
10
Bernard Newman to Design Fashions for Rko Pictures: Leaves Post as Head of Bergdorff & Goodman
Designing Staff — no Successor Named Yet.
 Stephanie’s final gown in Roberta is highly dramatic. It has a full skirt, buttons

down the front, and long sleeves (Fig. 10). What makes the dress stand out is its

enormous fur collar and peplum. The gigantic collar encircles her decolletage,

surrounding her with a halo of white fur. The use of fur on evening coats and dresses

was fashionable in the 1930s. A similar collar appears in a French fashion magazine

from 1935, and on a Lucien Lelong coat from the same year (Fig. 11, 12). In comparison

to real French fashion of the decade, Stephanie’s gown seems over-the-top. However,

when compared with a c.1933 image of Margaret Sullivan, an American actress, the

design seems more proportional (Fig. 13). The collar is intended to frame the face of

Irene Dunne as Stephanie, as the scene is primarily shot close-up. The ensemble sets the

focus on Dunne’s face and her performance, not on the clothes themselves. In the

context of Hollywood costume design, the dress is extravagant, but not abnormally so.

The major differences in approach that affect the costume design are the films’

use of spectacle. Instead of focusing entirely on plot, both Roberta and Lovely to Look

At include a level of glamour that invites the viewer into their version of Paris fashion.

Roberta accomplishes this by allowing the audience into the fantasy, while Lovely to

Look At intends to dazzle the audience with as heightened a glamor as possible.

This can be seen in the advertising for Lovely to Look At, in which the film is

billed as “chic”, “romantic”, and “eye-filling”.11 This level of visual excess is purposeful,

as it creates a level of impact that couldn’t be found on the small screen. In a 1952 issue

of Motion Picture Herald, an American movie executive writes, “Such pictures as

‘Lovely to Look At,’ ‘Ivanhoe’ and ‘Because You’re Mine’ will open up a new era in the

motion picture industry. I firmly believe we have got the answer to TV or any other

11
“MGM’s Movie of the Month Calendar.”
outside threat to our business.”12 The film is intended to win viewers away from

television by creating a larger spectacle. Costumes have a major role in the sense of

fantasy, especially because they were created by Gilbert Adrian. He fills the screen with

vibrant color, shining embellishments, and theatrical silhouettes. The fashion show at

the end of the film (which was directed by Vincente Minnelli, not LeRoy) included more

than 40 costumes, and allegedly cost MGM $100,000.13

Meanwhile, despite Roberta’s elaborate use of clothes, the majority of press

coverage about it specifically refers to the music and dance numbers. The film was

nominated for an Academy Award for “Best Song”.14 According to the Motion Picture

Herald, the film was well-received, particularly for its music.15 The costumes are lavish,

but they don’t overshadow the plot and the performers.

This approach in fantasy and spectacle also appears in how the female characters,

who are often creators and consumers of fashion, are treated. Roberta, which

encourages the viewer to enter into the fantasy, allows Stephanie’s work as a designer to

become a major part of the plot. The crux of the film rests upon Stephanie’s designs,

which end up saving the fashion show. In Lovely to Look At, the women are treated

more like mannequins on which fantasy is projected onto. When the actual design work

that Stephanie does is mentioned, it’s only in a passing remark about how dowdy her

work is. Neither film is in accordance with today’s standards for representation, but

Lovely to Look At firmly objectifies its female characters.

In the two versions of the Gowns By Roberta story, fashion and spectacle play a

major role. Both films are visual feasts, and welcome the viewer into an imagined world

12
Quigley Publishing Co., “Sees New Era Opening.”
13
Fristoe, “Lovely To Look At.”
14
“Academy Nominates Year’s Best Films.”
15
“RKO Radio.”
of Paris couture. In Roberta, the viewer is encouraged to envision themself at the height

of glamour. In Lovely to Look At, the viewer is intended to be stunned by the costumes’

drama.
 Works Cited

“Academy Nominates Year’s Best Films.” The Film Daily (Jan-Apr 1936), April
1936. http://archive.org/details/filmdailyvolume669newy.
"Bernard Newman to Design Fashions for Rko Pictures: Leaves Post as Head of
Bergdorff & Goodman Designing Staff — no Successor Named Yet." Women’s
Wear Daily, Oct 02, 1934, 40,
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s-rko-pictures/docview/1653154625/se-2?accountid=27253.
"Doubts Design Center, can be made in N. Y.: Bernard Newman of Bergdorf &
Goodman Thinks Adapting is Forte of Designers here." Women’s Wear Daily,
May 15, 1931, 7,
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http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/3260/lovely-to-look-at.
LeRoy, Mervyn. Lovely to Look At. Comedy, Musical, Romance.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), 1952.
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1952. http://archive.org/details/modernscreen4445unse.
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1952), 1952. http://archive.org/details/motionpictureher197quig.
“RKO Radio.” Motion Picture Herald, December 1935.
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Hall.” The New York Times, May 30, 1952, sec. Archives.
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Fig. 1. Ann Miller - I’ll Be Hard To Handle - from “Lovely To Look At” - 1952, n.d.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4jXDGAeQQg.

Fig. 2. Showgirls Costume Design Drawing, Black Gown with Light Blue Train, circa
1950s. c. 1950s. UNLV Digital Collection.
https://d.library.unlv.edu/digital/collection/showgirls/id/29/rec/20.
Fig. 3. Antonio, Del Castillo and Lanvin. Lavender Tulle Cocktail Dress. 1956. Sotheby’s.
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2015/collection-didier-ludot-pf1570
/lot.59.html.

Fig. 4. Roberta (1935) -- (Movie Clip) I’ll Be Hard To Handle, n.d.

http://www.tcm.com/video/457776/roberta-1935-ill-be-hard-to-handle.
Fig. 5 Butterick 8454. c. 1939. Witness2Fashion.
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Fig. 6. Adrian. Some of the Adrian-Designed Costumes in the Fashion Show in Lovely
to Look At (1952). 1952.
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ed-costumes-in-the.
Fig. 7. Head, Edith. Dress: “A Place in the Sun.” 1951.
https://www.screenchic.com/post/story-of-a-dress-a-place-in-the-sun.

Fig. 8. Kathryn Grayson - Howard Keel 1952 Lovely to Look At, n.d.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RWjlfBVgDU.
Fig. 9. Balmain, Pierre. Evening Dress. 1955 1950. Embroidered silk organza trimmed
with sequins, rhinestones and ostrich feather plumes, boned, supported by silk, nylon
and tulle, metal. Victoria and Albert Museum.
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O120600/evening-dress-pierre-balmain/

Fig. 10. Roberta (1935). n.d.

https://theblondeatthefilm.com/2014/10/30/roberta-1935/.
Fig. 10. Roberta (1935). n.d.
https://theblondeatthefilm.tumblr.com/tagged/roberta/page/5

Fig. 11. Paris Élégant : Publication Exclusivement Parisienne. January 1935.

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k32763123.
Fig. 12. Les Modes : Revue Mensuelle Illustrée Des Arts Décoratifs Appliqués à La
Femme. November 1935. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k57228137.

Fig. 13 Margaret Sullavan c. 1933. c 1933.

https://twitter.com/zrniczorica/status/1261533250230652933.