Gordon Conway (costume designer)
Gordon Conway | |
|---|---|
| Born | 18 December 1894 Cleburne, Texas, USA |
| Died | 9 June 1956 Virginia, USA |
| Occupation(s) | Costume designer and illustrator |
| Spouse | Blake Ozias (married 1920–1927) |
Gordon Conway (18 December 1894 – 9 June 1956) was an illustrator and costume designer who designed for British films in the 1920s and 1930s. She established the first specialist costume department in Britain's film studios in the early 1930s. She worked closely with leading film producer Michael Balcon, and her notable films included High Treason (1929), Sunshine Susie (1931) and The Good Companions (1933).
Conway's biographer, Raye Virginia Allen, credits her with helping to "shape the way early-twentieth century women looked and aspired to look... in an atmosphere of sweeping change on both sides of the Atlantic". She was, according to Allen, "the quintessential jazz age flapper".
Gordon's distinctive masculine first name had been chosen by her father before her birth and, according to the designer, had been "useful" in her career, as many theatre managers would not agree to see female designers.