Adrian (costume designer)

Adrian Adolph Greenburg (March 3, 1903 – September 13, 1959), also known mononymously as Adrian, was an American costume and fashion designer. Widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in Hollywood's Golden Age, he was usually credited onscreen with the phrase "Gowns by Adrian". Early in his career, he chose the professional name Gilbert Adrian, a combination of his father's forename and his own.

Adrian began his career making costumes for Irving Berlin's Music Box Revues before being brought to Hollywood by Rudolph Valentino to work on his films. After creating costumes for Cecil B. DeMille's films, he became the head costume designer at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1928 to 1941, where he created wardrobes for several stars, including Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow, Katharine Hepburn, and Norma Shearer. Adrian was especially celebrated for his sophisticated and dramatic evening gown designs, a talent exemplified in Letty Lynton (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), and The Women (1939). He is perhaps best known today for his work on the Technicolor classic The Wizard of Oz (1939), for which he custom-designed the signature red-sequined ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland, one of the most enduring costume designs in cinema history.

In 1941, Adrian left MGM to establish his own fashion house, Adrian, Ltd., seeking greater creative freedom. He designed both couture and ready-to-wear fashions, winning a Coty Award in 1945 for his work. After retiring in 1952 due to declining health, Adrian briefly returned to costume design in 1958 and was working on the Broadway musical Camelot when he died of a stroke in 1959. He was posthumously awarded the Tony Award for Best Costume Design in a Musical in 1960.