Alexander Ballinger Phyllis Dalton: a Career in Costumes

The extraordinary story of costume designer Phyllis Dalton, filled with insights, recollections, and revelations from a life spent on the great film locations of the twentieth century In conversation with film historian Alexander Ballinger, Phyllis Dalton (1925-2025) reveals how she created some of the silver screen's most unforgettable and iconic costumes, working with such legendary directors as Alfred Hitchcock and David Lean.The book spans Dalton's extraordinary fifty-year career in the film industry, from sewing in Soho workrooms on Laurence Olivier's Henry V via intelligence work at Bletchley Park to her Oscar winning collaboration with Kenneth Brannagh's on his Henry V.

One of the most successful costume designers of the 20th Century, her work included the epic costumes seen in Lawrence of Arabia to her second Oscar winning costumes for Dr Zhivago, through to Oliver and cult classics such as The Princess Bride and Much Ado About Nothing.Many of the stunning illustrations in the book are from Dalton's own personal on-location photographs and drawings.