Cinema Costume Party

Strolling through Leonard Stanley’s exhibit of motion picture costume sketches is like spending an afternoon at the movies.

Make that 127 afternoons--the number of sketches on display in the galleries of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills since Stanley’s exhibit opened Friday.

Amassing this collection, “The Origins of Screen Style: A Collection of Hollywood Costume Design Sketches from the Leonard Stanley Archive,” has been Stanley’s passion for more than 30 years.

“I grew up watching films and was always interested in film and costume design,” he says. The exhibition’s sketches represent many films, including “The Wizard of Oz,” “Gigi,” “A Place in the Sun,” “South Pacific,” “Gone With the Wind” and “Bonnie and Clyde”--and the work of nearly 50 top designers including Natasha Rambova, Travis Banton, Edith Head, Jean-Louis, Irene Sharaff, Theadora Van Runkle and Adrian.

“I’m still collecting,” says Stanley, an interior designer, referring to more than 400 sketches he owns today, acquired mostly through trading with other collectors or at auctions. Two weeks ago, he acquired a 1926 sketch by Adrian from the movie “Fig Leaves,” which will be in the show. “A friend of mine had it,” he says.

“There is much more to Hollywood costume design than the work of Edith Head,” says Stanley. “There were other talented designers, a lot of names that the public should be more familiar with,” which is why Stanley and the Academy put the exhibit together.

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The exhibit is free and open to the public through Jan. 16, 2000. The academy, at 8949 Wilshire Blvd., is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Call (310) 247-3600 for more information.

* E-mail Michael Quintanilla at socalliving@latimes.com.