Gowns, Crowns and Artifacts

An extraordinary tribute to film is now playing. Not in your local theater, but at a gallery near you.

The Beverly Hills-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has brought together film costumes of yesterday and today, in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the Costume Designers Guild.

The exhibit, “Building Character: Costume Design for the Cinema,” presents a colorful account of more than six decades of Hollywood. Opening Friday in the academy’s fourth-floor gallery, the show features works by nearly 100 designers and includes more than 150 pieces such as jewelry, costumes, hats, shoes, design sketches and set photographs.

“These treasures are being lost and stolen,” said Eloise Jenssen, an Academy Award-winning designer and co-chairwoman of the exhibit. “We tried to show everyone living and dead who’s important in the motion picture business.”

Exhibition curator Ellen Harrington said the show is a rare exhibition combining film costumes and related accessories such as the gold and silver cigar case carried by Clark Gable in “Gone With the Wind” and jewelry worn by Rita Hayworth in “Salome.”

To arrange such an elaborate exhibit, Harrington, Jenssen and co-chair Mina Mittleman have spent almost a year acquiring items and planning.

The pieces came from a variety of sources, including the academy’s Margaret Herrick Library, the Costume Designers Guild and many designers and sketch artists.

The exhibit is organized by styles--from Victorian England to futuristic-wear to the Wild West and more--rather than chronologically. The costumes include Valentino’s “suit of light” from “Blood and Sand,” Vanessa Redgrave’s crown and coronation gown from “Camelot,” and the white suit worn by Gary Oldman in “Bram Stroker’s Dracula.”

“It’s much more interesting that we can take a sketch from the 1930s or 1940s and place it near a similar costume made today,” Harrington said.

“Hollywood hasn’t always been as careful as it should have in keeping its history,” said Harrington. “No one thought there was a huge value for these things. What we are trying to do is to preserve this artwork.”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is at 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and from noon to 6 p.m. on weekends. The free exhibit will be shown through June 19. Information: (310) 278-5673.