Palace Costume: Inside Hollywood’s Best Kept Fashion Secret (Hardback)

Envisioned and curated by owner Melody Barnett, Palace Costume is a 30,000-square-foot treasure trove of over half a million pieces and a beloved and legendary collection exclusively for costumers, stylists, and designers.

Barnett's journey in retro clothing is movie-worthy itself. Her first boutique in Los Angeles in the early 1970s attracted the likes of Diana Ross, Joni Mitchell and many other legends from the era. This inspired her to transition the business into a to-the-trade-only rental service enabling her to retain and preserve these vintage gems. Since then, hundreds of classic films have featured clothing from Palace, including Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown, and The Godfather, to name just a few.

Author Mimi Haddon's interviews with more than a dozen Academy Award–winning costume designers are featured here, with corresponding film stills highlighting the clothing and accessories they selected from Palace. Acclaimed designers such as Sandy Powell (Carol, The Aviator, Shakespeare in Love), Ruth E. Carter (Black Panther, Malcolm X, Frankie and Alice), Arianne Phillips (Once upon a Time in Hollywood, A Single Man, W.E.), Shirley Kurata (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Mary Zophres (La La Land, Babylon, True Grit) and Mark Bridges (Boogie Nights, Licorice Pizza) each share insightful anecdotes about the importance of Palace Costume as their go-to creative resource, particularly for period films.

Los Angeles–based photographer Haddon has been artfully photographing the vintage gems at Palace Costume for many years. Over 300 of her stunning images are featured in this visually comprehensive celebration of this one-of-a-kind archive. This inspirational look-book is sure to delight a wide audience, including cinephiles, vintage-clothing enthusiasts, fashionistas, costume designers and stylists.

"Flipping through these pages offers a taste of what a trip to the vintage emporium is like, where 30,000 square feet is filled--methodically and exactingly--from floor to ceiling, with more than 500,000 items."

Vogue

"The legend of Palace Costume receives the respect it deserves with a beautiful art book. Over 300 images, by photographer and stylist Mimi Haddon, illustrate this delightful book, and Hollywood's top costume designers explain what they love about the Palace costumes and props."

The Guardian