A01=Alexander Ballinger
Alfred Hitchcock
Author_Alexander Ballinger
bafta
Carol Reed
Category=AFW
Category=AKT
Category=ATFA
Category=DNBF
cinema
cosplay
cosprop
David Lean
denzel washington
dr. zhivago
emmy award
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
film history
henry v
judy dench
julie christie
Kenneth Branagh
lawrence of arabia
Man Who Knew Too Much
movies
oscar
peter o'toole
princess bride
Richard Brooks
wardrobe
Product details
- ISBN 9781399995641
- Dimensions: 229 x 279mm
- Publication Date: 25 Nov 2025
- Publisher: Clapperboard Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
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, a woman in a man’s world.
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; apprenticeship at Gainsborough Studios to designing costumes on The Man Who Knew Too Much; the epic undertakings of costuming Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago (Oscar, Best Costume Design), and Oliver!; through to cult classics A Private Function and The Princess Bride to her successful late collaboration with a young Kenneth Branagh on Henry V (Oscar, Best Costume Design), Dead Again, and Much Ado About Nothing.
Many of the book’s illustrations, sourced from Dalton’s personal archive, showcase unique ephemera, fabric swatches, production stills, large format pencil-and-watercolour sketches, and production notebooks from six decades of filmmaking. Many of these stunning images, including Dalton’s personal on-location photographs from the Lawrence of Arabia shoot, have never been published before.
Distributed for Clapperboard Books
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, a woman in a man’s world.
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; apprenticeship at Gainsborough Studios to designing costumes on The Man Who Knew Too Much; the epic undertakings of costuming Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago (Oscar, Best Costume Design), and Oliver!; through to cult classics A Private Function and The Princess Bride to her successful late collaboration with a young Kenneth Branagh on Henry V (Oscar, Best Costume Design), Dead Again, and Much Ado About Nothing.
Many of the book’s illustrations, sourced from Dalton’s personal archive, showcase unique ephemera, fabric swatches, production stills, large format pencil-and-watercolour sketches, and production notebooks from six decades of filmmaking. Many of these stunning images, including Dalton’s personal on-location photographs from the Lawrence of Arabia shoot, have never been published before.
Distributed for Clapperboard Books
Alexander Ballinger is a film historian and author of New Cinematographers and The Rough Guide to Film Noir.
