As minds and eyes turn towards Red Carpet season, a reminder of how they used to do it in the good old Hollywood glory days is really very fitting. Brilliantly, that reminder exists in a stunning exhibition currently on show at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and about to tour the world. Hollywood Costume is a who’s who – or rather, who wore what – of film costume since 1912. From Dorothy’s red glitter shoes to Scarlett O’Hara’s green gown, Marilyn’s naughty pleated dress from that airborne moment in The Seven Year Itch to Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra Robes, John Travolta’s Saturday Night Fever suit to Uma Thurman’s Kill Bill yellow jumpsuit, seminal costumes from characters and film moments printed indelibly onto our minds serve not only as reminders of the films they were so a part of, but also as proof (if it was needed) of the power of costume.

Video interviews and discussions with Directors and Costume Designers throughout the exhibition help explain the ideas behind the decisions that led to some of the most striking visual references of the last century. But, in most part, there isn’t much explaining to do. This is about how fashion and clothing does at the very least as much as words to tell a story, create a character, to form an impression and indeed give personality. As Hollywood lines up for Red Carpet season, it’s a timely reminder of how much you can say without uttering a word.

Hollywood Costume will be on at the Victoria and Albert in London until 27th January. Thereafter it will be on tour, visiting the Austalian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne next Spring, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts next November.

Picture credits: V&A  - http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-hollywood-costume/about-the-exhibition/