Costume designer Ray
Aghayan, the man who
dressed Barbra Streisand
for her television
appearance on The Judy
Garland Show and for
her film Funny Lady
passed away on October 10. He
was 81 and resided in Los
Angeles.
Aghayan was born in
Teheran where his mother
served as a court designer
for the family of the Shah
of Iran. He emigrated to
the United States in 1952
and became a naturalized
citizen in 1957.
Aghayan worked on Broadway
where he received a Tony
nomination as Best Costume
Designer for Lauren
Bacall's 1970 musical
smash, Applause. He
was also the costumer for
the 1974 production of
Lorelei starring Carol
Channing.
For his work on
television, Aghayan
received no less than
seven Emmy nominations. He
and Bob Mackie were the
very first recipients of a
Costume Design Emmy
(1967's Alice Through
the Looking Glass). He
and Ret Turner took home
the Costume Design award
for Diana Ross's 1987
special, Red Hot Rhythm
and Blues.
Aghayan was the costume
designer for a number of
feature motion pictures as
well. He and Bob Mackie
designed the costumes for
Diana Ross's Lady Sings
the Blues. (1972) and
Barbra's Funny Lady
(1975). For both films,
Aghayan and Mackie received an Oscar
nomination.
The Judy Garland Show
In 1963, Aghayan worked
for CBS as the exclusive
costume designer for Judy
Garland's historic
television series,
creating all the wonderful
outfits featured each week
– not
only Judy's costumes but
each of her guests' as
well.
Aghayan designed the
costumes Barbra wore
on the October 6, 1963
episode of the show
(with Barbra's input,
we suspect). |
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In 1998, Aghayan spoke at
length about his time on
The Judy Garland Show.
When asked about Judy and
some of her guests on the
show, Aghayan said,
"It was very hard to
compete with her [Garland].
She was able to create,
with the guests, wonderful
groupings that would then
become
just
incredible – just like the
one with Streisand."
You
can watch Ray Aghayan's
complete interview
here.
Incidentally, to serve as his assistant
on The Judy Garland
Show, Aghayan hired a
little known designer
named Bob Mackie. The two
would become life partners
as well as a powerful
force in both the entertainment
and fashion worlds. Mackie
would go on to become one
of the most recognized
designers of all time.
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Funny Lady
In 1975, both Ray Aghayan
and Bob Mackie were hired
by Ray Stark to
provide all the colorful
costumes for the Barbra
Streisand film, Funny
Lady.
Their task was of epic
proportion with Barbra's character alone requiring 39 different
costume changes.
If designing
the outfits for Funny Lady required Aghayan and Mackie to
employ a measure of outlandish creativity, they were certainly a
success. Their costume work on Funny Lady was rewarded
with an Oscar nomination, one of five the film received.
Years later, when asked
about his experiences working with Barbra Streisand, Aghayan's
reply was simple and to the point: "Barbra is worth all of it.
She is worth it." |
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The Scopus Awards
 The
association between Ray Aghayan and Barbra Streisand was not
limited to professional television and motion picture work.
Aghayan also created designs for Barbra to wear when when she
was off screen.
A notable occasion when Barbra chose to wear an Aghayan creation
occurred on December 3, 1984. At a gala ceremony in Hollywood,
Barbra received the distinguished Scopus Award of the Hebrew
University in recognition of her devotion to Jewish education.
For the event, Barbra chose to wear a Ray Aghayan custom made
full length gold evening gown inspired by the artist Gustav
Klimt.
In 2004, the gown sold at auction for $4,900.
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