LANCASTER — As the title character in the “Zoolander” movies, Ben Stiller wore, among other costumes, a sleek black sports coat festooned with sequins. In 2016’s “Zoolander 2,” Kristen Wiig, as Alexanya Atoz, wore an outlandish black-and-white outfit loaded with stripes, checks and plaids and cuffs and collars wired to be able to stand up in any shape desired.
In “How to Lose a Guy in 10 days” (2003), Kate Hudson was elegant in a yellow silk gown cut on the bias. For her role in 2006’s “Dreamgirls,” Beyonce got a workout wearing a nearly 20-pound silk chiffon sheath dress covered with silvery metal sequins. And in the 1963 film “A New Kind of Love,” Joanne Woodward was chic in a yellow wool coat trimmed with black fox fur.
All these and more — created by designers including Edith Head, Alexander McQueen, Roberto Cavalli, Valentino and more — are on display in “Distinctly Paramount: Fashion & Costume from the Paramount Pictures Archive” at the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio.
For the Lancaster center, this is the fourth costume exhibit from the collection that is curated by Paramount Pictures Costume and Prop Archivist Randall Thropp, a resident of Los Angeles but a native of Lancaster.
“Paramount refers to Lancaster as my laboratory,” Thropp said. “We do try things out here and it’s nice to bring costumes and fashions here for people who otherwise wouldn’t get to Hollywood.”
Seventy-five pieces fill the Decorative Arts Center, which is housed in the Reese-Peters House in Lancaster. In the lower level are sketches and artifacts from the 2019 movie “Rocketman,” especially pairs of glitzy platform shoes worn by Taron Egerton who played Elton John.
On the top floor of the Reese-Peters House are four galleries, each with a costume theme.
In the “print” room are lively designed dresses, suits, jackets and shoes spanning from the 1930s to present day and including: a cream-colored silk dress with floral motif worn in the 1937 Bing Crosby film “Waikiki Wedding” by Shirley Ross who, in a later film, introduced the song “Thanks for the Memory”; Bryce Dallas Howard’s red print dress supported by crinoline layers underneath from “Rocketman” (2019); and a 1970s-style blue polyester day dress worn by Christina Applegate in “Anchorman 2” (2003).
The “black” room includes, of course, several little black dresses, including one worn by Kerry Washington in “A Thousand Words” (2012); a magnificent Elizabethan costume ball dress worn by Joan Collins as Alexis Carrington in television’s “Dynasty,” and a black-and-gold silk jacket with velvet collar and cuffs worn in a television special by crooner Tom Jones.
Standouts in the “white” room are a silk gown with thousands of tiny pearls sewn onto mesh and worn by “The White Widow” Vanessa Kirby in 2018’s “Mission: Impossible — Fallout” and a cream-colored double-breasted dinner jacket sported by Robert Redford in 1993 in “Indecent Proposal.”
And in the “solid” room, there’s the Joanne Woodward yellow coat, Kate Hudson’s yellow silk gown; the Beyonce sheath dress; and something completely different: a gold-colored pantsuit made of upholstery-weight velour that Florence Henderson wore in an episode of “The Brady Bunch.”
The galleries include touch screens with Thropp’s commentary about the various costumes. On the gallery walls are reproductions of advertisements from high-end stores where the Hollywood elite would have shopped as well as quotations from designers such as this: “What a costume designer does is a cross between magic and camouflage. We create the illusion of changing actors into what they are not.” — Edith Head
Thropp installed the exhibit in the spring and plans to return in September, adding some new costumes. Beginning in November, period costumes from the Paramount Archives will be featured in a “Victorian Christmas” display at center.
Through the years, said Decorative Arts Center Executive Director Jason Crabill, the Paramount Pictures costumes have been the most popular exhibits at the center.
The current exhibit, Thropp said, is the largest yet.
“People love costumes,” Thropp said. “There’s a connection and a fascination with seeing these things up close and personal. Costumes have this magical power.”
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At a glance
“Distinctly Paramount: Fashion & Costume from the Paramount Pictures Archive” continues through Jan. 2 at the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio, 145 E. Main St., Lancaster. Hours: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is free. A variety of exhibit-related activities and events are scheduled. Call 740-681-1423 or visit www.decartsohio.org.
