Object of the week: Cecil Beaton’s costume design for Vivien Leigh as Anna Karenina
Vivien Leigh spent two days in Paris being fitted for the luxurious costumes she wears in the 1948 version of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, which were designed by the renowned photographer and designer Cecil Beaton.
Photographer, designer and diarist Cecil Beaton was just one in a long line of people to be enticed by the great Hungarian impresario Alexander Korda. “I did not want to work in films,” wrote Beaton in his diary, following creative frustrations on earlier projects. However, with Mephistophelean charm, Korda persuaded Beaton this time would be different, sealing the deal with a typically generous financial agreement. Their first production was an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, and while Beaton was deep into preparations for this, Korda asked him to additionally design for Anna Karenina (1948). The two films were shot concurrently, with Beaton flitting from set to set.
Beaton was delighted to be working with Vivien Leigh, who he knew personally as well as professionally. He had photographed her for Vogue early in her career and many times since. For Anna Karenina, he was determined to give the costumes the correct period and Russian flavour that he felt were lacking in earlier adaptations of Tolstoy’s novel (including the two major Hollywood versions starring Greta Garbo, with whom Beaton was obsessed). There were two major obstacles, however: time and rationing.
The fabrics available in post-war Britain were not immediately conducive to recreating the weighty, luxurious textures of 1870s Russia. Happily, due to the short lead time for the production, Korda suggested Leigh’s gowns be made in Paris. The actress and the designer spent two days in the capital of fashion, having fittings with Irène Karinska, the talented daughter of legendary film and theatrical costumier Madame Karinska. Beaton was thrilled with the results, which he described as “masterpieces”. Anna’s hats were made by renowned milliner to the stars Madame Paulette, who produced her own interpretations of Beaton’s sketches – again to his great satisfaction. She would collaborate with him again on Gigi (1958) and My Fair Lady (1964).
For Anna’s travelling clothes, Beaton designed this rich and heavy fur-trimmed velvet gown worn with a luxurious fur cape, which signals her social status and taste for fashion, as well as conveying the bitter cold of the Russian winter. Leigh had over 15 costume changes throughout the film, including sumptuous ball gowns and New Look-inspired day dresses, many of which are among Beaton’s most exquisite creations.
As he would later do with Audrey Hepburn and My Fair Lady, Beaton created a series of photographic portraits of Leigh in her Karenina gowns, stepping outside of the action of the film to pause and appreciate the costumes as works of art in their own right.
Produced with the support of the BFI Screen Heritage Fund, awarding National Lottery funding.