©Mimi Haddon, Palace Costume Cover

“You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it.” Edith Head

Mimi Haddon has had a healthy obsession with all things Palace Costume for decades, not only photographing the extensive collection, but working with dancers to create wild incarnations of  the imagination with her series, Platform 835 (images that covered the walls of Century City Shopping Mall in Los Angeles for several years). After years of considering the Palace Costume collection in a myriad of approaches, Haddon has released her magnum opus, Palace Costume, published by Chronicle Books. Palace Costume is a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Palace Costume & Prop Co., an exclusive Los Angeles film-industry haven of dresses, gowns, garments, accessories, props, and jewelry featured in countless movies for more than fifty years. Over 300 of her stunning, stylized, and saturated images are featured in this visually comprehensive and delightful celebration of this one-of-a-kind archive. This inspirational look-book is sure to delight a wide audience, including vintage-clothing enthusiasts, fashionistas, costume designers, stylists, and cinephiles.

The book also includes interviews by Mimi Haddon with more than a dozen Academy Award–winning costume designers are featured here with corresponding film stills that highlight 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), and 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, especially for historic period films.

“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 and 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 hold onto and care for these vintage gems. Since then, hundreds of classic films have featured clothing from Palace over the years, including Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown, and The Godfather, to name just a few.”

There will be a Panel Discussion with Mimi Haddon Author, Melody Barnett Owner of Palace Costume and Laurie Kratochvil, Photo Editor.  Modernism Week, Palm Springs, CA – February 22, 2025.

Mimi Haddon is a Los Angeles based photographer, costume designer and educator.  Her clients include Rodarte, Tierra Whack, The Elder Statesman, L.A. Dance Project, M83 and The New Yorker. She has been documenting the Palace Costume collection for twenty years.

Her book, Palace Costume: Inside Hollywood’s Best Kept Fashion Secret, was released through Chronicle/Chroma on September 10, 2024.

Instagram:
@mimihaddon
@palacecostumeofficial
@chroniclechroma
@chroniclebooks

©Mimi Haddon, Melody’s Apartment, 2nd FLoor, from Palace Costume

Palace Costume

I was first introduced to Palace Costume nearly 20 years ago by a stylist I was working with.  I was photographing a fairy tale inspired project at a magical house in Topanga Canyon and was looking for something extraordinary to add to the mix.  I remember walking in and feeling as if I’d walked through some sort of portal.  From the street, one could easily walk by the Palace buildings without ever noticing their existence.  They’re just kind of part of the creative scenery on a mural-lined street in West Hollywood.  So, when I walked inside and met Lee who is always standing in the front room greeting customers or checking in items, and scanned the space which was dripping with vintage treasures floor to ceiling, I knew that I’d stepped into something special.

Growing up, I was always somewhat vintage-curious and made a point of seeking out local thrift stores. When I traveled, I delighted in seeing how the merchandise would change according to the taste of the culture and I always appreciated the collector’s vibe and creative ways in which clothing and props can be displayed to tell a story.  But Palace Costume is different.  Where most vintage or thrift stores are like someone’s personal art collection, Palace Costume is Le Louvre of vintage.  We’re talking 4 massive buildings spanning 30,000 square feet, all connected, holding over 500,000 items.  It is a veritable labyrinth housing the most colorful, beautiful, quirky, elegant, bedraggled, flashy, handcrafted, futuristic, quiet and loud clothing, jewelry, costumes and props, representing cultures from around the world from the past 100 years. But it doesn’t stop there. The environment, the rooms, the walls, the floors are all part of the experience. For the first time visitor, it is exciting and overwhelming.

©Mimi Haddon, Men’s Ties, 2nd Floor, from Palace Costume

It wasn’t difficult for me to find my favorite section which were the vintage bathing suits.  I don’t know what it is, perhaps it was my formative years growing up in Palm Springs where we lived in the swimming pool throughout the summers. In each piece I saw expression and poetry.  To boot, they were the most affordable items for me to rent for my work at that time.  I had recently embarked upon a really beautiful collaboration with my make up artist, Laurel and her artist daughter, Cassia, who was our model.  The three of us would spend afternoons making up fun shoots with these gorgeous vintage bathing suits in Laurel’s huge backyard that had a pool and a beautiful garden.  I would thrift fabrics, table cloths and sheets to hang as backdrops for some shots.  It was a simple and intimate experience and in addition to the friendship and the collaboration that we all enjoyed, the vintage suits from Palace themselves were the source of our inspiration.  Each one told its own special story and Cassia’s innate understanding brought life to them with visual restraint.

It was probably a year after I’d first started renting from Palace when I mustered the courage to share my images with Lee, who always checks the clothing in and out.  He really loved some of them and wanted to share them with the owner, Melody, who I had not yet met.  Lee paged her to come to the front and I was so surprised by how striking yet down to earth she was.  She loved the images as well and it was not long after that I had an opportunity through a friend who owns a printing company, to create a promotional calendar using the images.  We turned the project into a bigger collaboration with Melody and her stylist assistant, Pony, putting together two huge racks of vintage bathing suits, hats, jewelry, shoes and accessories.  I was pinching myself to have Melody’s support for this dream project.  I was so impressed with her creativity, passion, enthusiasm and generosity, and it gave me more insight into the driving force behind Palace Costume.

©Mimi Haddon, Men’s Button Ups, Men’s Warehouse, Ground Floor, from Palace Costume

It wasn’t until 2015 when I decided to learn more about textiles, that I seriously considered working on a book about the Palace Costume collection. While working on an MFA in Fiber Art,  I found myself learning about some of the countless incredible processes involved in the creation of clothing.  I learned how to weave on a floor loom, how to dye fabrics with manmade and natural dyes, and how to use fabric and textiles as an artform.  I knew that tackling a project like this put me in a David vs Goliath role.  How can one possibly express the scale of such a collection in one hand held volume?  Nonetheless, I naively approached Melody about The Palace Costume book to which she enthusiastically gave me the green light and eventually even a key to let myself in on the weekends to shoot whenever and wherever.

©Mimi Haddon, from Palace Costume

I started in January 2016, with the intention of finding and photographing some of my favorite pieces in the collection. I would come to Palace Costume one to two days a week and photograph on the 4th floor sports section, where I set up my makeshift photo studio, funnily enough, right next to the vintage bathing suits.  My first motivation was to find the quirkiest, most colorful and interesting pieces, which I did, but the inevitable happened, and I made loads of turns along the way which led me down one rabbit hole after another.  In the best way possible.

One detour happened when I noticed a box of 100 year old gloves that had just been returned to Lee.  I decided to create a lightbox to photograph them illuminated from behind, and the best location to do this was in Melody’s apartment, which also houses the vintage lingerie,, which was not as brightly lit as other areas.  I used two clothes hampers and a section of plexiglass and set up my mini studio.  Once again I found entire stories that existed within the vintage articles.  The amount of detail that was put into these beautiful pieces was so seductive to witness through this backlit way of seeing.  This led me to discover the lingerie, collars and translucent garments, opening up yet another level of appreciation for the history and meaningfulness of the collection.

©Mimi Haddon,Cassia Lupo wearing a 1950s pool ensemble, 4th FLoor, from Palace Costume

As I spent more time at Palace Costume I was able to meet costume designers, watch them work and see their pulls for various productions.  The racks stay on hold until the costume designers are ready to bring them to the fittings with actors, giving the clothing an air of tension as if they are memorizing lines for an audition.  Those racks are always labeled with the name of the production and I found it fascinating to see the choices that were made.  It takes a special person with an experienced eye to navigate the maze-like space.  Somehow, through countless bins, endless rails, and items tucked away, the costume designers magically construct characters through clothing.  Looking at the racks which were often spilling over with vintage pieces, one thinks about the rings on a tree stump, where each small sliver of information speaks volumes.  In this case, we’re talking texture, color, era, material, design, history and more.

©Mimi Haddon, Headress from Big Lebowski, designed by Mary Zophres, 4th Floor, Palace Costume

It is really the incredible costume designers who give Palace Costume a raison d’etre.  If Melody had kept The Crystal Palace, which was the original retail space, instead of pivoting into the costume rental business, there would be nowhere near the scale of collection.  There simply would not be the need.  The call to fulfill quantities of wardrobe demands drove Melody to collect in massive volumes over the years.  She recalls acquiring the denim from Born on the 4th of July and having it delivered in a semi trailer. And how many trips to the Pasadena Rose Bowl flea market did it take to fill the men’s warehouse or the lingerie rooms?  After spending so much time with the collection documenting the pieces and feeling the uniqueness of the space, I was deeply moved by the special connection between the designers and the collection that Melody and her team have created.

©Mimi Haddon, Crazy Quilt Blanket and Jacket, Stylist Room, Ground Floor, fromPalace Costume

I have been in collaboration in one way or another, with the Palace Costume collection for twenty years.  I still have not begun to scratch the surface.  Every time I walk in I see something surprising at the end of the rail in the stylist room, evening gown room or children’s floor.  I wish I could say that I am finished and can put this itch to rest.  But even as I am writing this, I have ideas of how to highlight the ragged beauties in the depression era wing. Maybe another series is waiting?  I can say that my love and admiration for Melody, her team and the extraordinary collection continues to grow.  My hope is that this book provides a hint of what it is like to step off the busy West Hollywood street and into the magical world of Palace Costume. – Mimi Haddon

©Mimi Haddon, Yellow Women’s 1960s Day Shoes, Women’s Warehouse, Ground Floor, from Palace Costume

©Mimi Haddon, Antique Chinese Robe, Global Room, Ground Floor, from Palace Costume

©Mimi Haddon, Antique Gauntlet Gloves, Early 1900s, Ground Floor, from Palace Costume

©Mimi Haddon, 1980s women’s top with Palace Label, 2nd Floor, from Palace Costume

©Mimi Haddon, Vintage Teddy, Lingerie Room, 2nd Floor, from Palace Costume

©Mimi Haddon, 1960s Women’s Dress Jacket, Evening Gown Room, 2nd Floor, from Palace Costume

©Mimi Haddon, Buttons From the Collection, from Palace Costume

©Mimi Haddon, 1950s Dress, Evening Gown Room, 2nd Floor, from Palace Costume

©Mimi Haddon

©Mimi Haddon

©Mimi Haddon

©Mimi Haddon

©Mimi Haddon

©Mimi Haddon