For six decades, Melody Barnett has helped numerous Hollywood stars look fabulous in movies like La La Land and Everything Everywhere All at Once and TV shows like Mad Men, all known for characters wearing memorable outfits. That's because Barnett owns, curates, and runs a vintage costume-rental emporium spotlighted in Mimi Haddon's gorgeous Palace Costume: Inside Hollywood's Best Kept Fashion Secret.
Because vintage clothing is fragile, only costume designers and stylists can peruse inside Palace Costume, where Barnett also lives. For everyone else, Haddon's striking photographs of the vast collections of clothes and accessories provide glorious armchair window shopping. Imagine Willie Wonka's factory but all the eye-popping, delicious bursts of color are on clothes instead of candy. The book contains fascinating interviews with Barnett and her business partner, Lee Ramstead, as well as conversations with Academy Award-winning and -nominated costume designers who have pulled items from Barnett's showrooms or been inspired by something they saw there. The next time readers spot a stunning piece of clothing onscreen, chances are Palace Costume had something to do with it. --Elyse Dinh-McCrillis, reviewer and freelance editor at The Edit Ninja