Travis Banton on AllMovie

Costume designer Travis Banton was thoroughly trained at Columbia University, the Art Student League, and the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts. After serving on a submarine during World War I, Banton was employed by such prominent couturiers as Lucille and Madame Francis. He was a well-established New York fashion designer when, in 1924, he was hired by Paramount Pictures' Walter Wanger to work on a Leatrice Joy vehicle, appropriately titled Dressmaker of Paris. During his two-decade stay at Paramount, Banton was instrumental in establishing the fashion images--both on-screen and off--of such actresses as Marlene Dietrich and Mae West. He later worked for Fox and Universal, closing out his Hollywood career as designer for the benighted 1951 biopic Valentino (1951). He returned to Tinseltown in 1956 to open a salon with famed designer Marusia. Travis Banton's final show-business contribution consisted of his calculatedly flamboyant costumes for Auntie Mame star Rosalind Russell.