1904-1985

Helen Rose was born in Chicago on 2nd February 1904. She studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. In 1929 she moved to Los Angeles, California.

Her first professional job in designing was for Fanchon and Marco's "Ice Follies". This duo supervised costumes for musical sequences in Fox musicals and in 1943 Helen designed for Hello Frisco Hello, Coney Island and Stormy Weather.

After Adrian left, Helen got a contract from MGM and became one of the very few women to become head costume designer at a major studio. She went on to make costumes for more than 200 films right up to 1968.

One of her most famous films was "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" in 1958, starring Elizabeth Taylor. A picture of one of the dresses from this film is shown on the left. She designed one of Elizabeth's wedding dresses as well.

Helen won two Oscars for costume design, in 1952 for "The Bad and the Beautiful" starring Lana Turner, and in 1955 for "I'll Cry Tomorrow" starring Susan Hayward. She was nominated 12 times for Academy Awards.

Another two of her famous films were "Silk Stockings" and "Designing Woman" both in 1957.

Her most famous dress however, was not in a film although worn by a film star. It was the wedding dress which Grace Kelly wore in 1956 when she married Prince Rainier of Monaco. The dress is shown on the right. It was copied by thousands of brides who married that year.

Even after leaving films, she carried on designing from her own Californian salon.

Helen Rose died on 9th November 1985, at the age of 81.

click below:

Just Make Them Beautiful by Helen Rose

2003