Dolly Tree (1899-1962) was an illustrator and costume designer who forged a successful career during the 1920s and 1930s in London, Paris, New York and Hollywood and was a prime example of the New Woman. Her artistic flair touched so many stage and screen personalities that even if you have never heard of her before you will be familiar with her elegant creations for such movie stars as Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow and Judy Garland and other MGM starlets. She was also responsible for creating the quintessential 1890s look for Mae West that made her famous and it is believed that she was one of the first designers to propagate the use of the strapless evening gown. Dolly Tree's creative genius had a profound impact on fashion and her modern approach to dress designing with its chic air of simplicity has given her creations a timeless quality that can still be glimpsed at in modern couture.

Dolly Tree was one of the many prolific designers during what has been called the 'golden age' of creativity during the 1920s and 1930s. She had an international reputation with her exotic creations appearing in revues, musicals, pantomimes and cabaret in London, Paris and New York during the 1920s and in Hollywood working for MGM during the 1930s she maintained the style and glamour of costume for which the studio was famous.  It is very much because of her diverse career and her versatility as a designer for all forms of entertainment on both sides of the Atlantic that makes her work so fascinating. Also, through her career we can glimpse the splendour and originality of design for the theatre during the gay twenties and the glamour and style of Hollywood during the thirties.

Unlike many of her contemporaries who viewed women as static objects of decoration and rarely deviated from a particular style - and were incidentally largely men - Dolly Tree expressed a much more varied vision drawing on inspiration from every conceivable art movement of the time. As a result her style was completely modern in approach, illustrated a very vivid imagination, adopted the desire for a greater freedom of feminine movement and independence that was reflective of the concept of the new woman and stressed the Parisienne outlook of simplicity. Her showgirl costumes were exotic and bizarre and sometimes used bold splashes of colour and yet her philosophy for her contemporary gowns maintained her fondness for simplicity of line and decoration with the emphasis on unusual detail, which included the strapless evening gown which she may well have developed in the late 1920s. Throughout the twenty or so years of her working career as a designer she maintained a unique and innovative style that had a major influence on contemporary culture.

Considerable misinformation surrounds Dolly Tree and stems from the fact that she was a woman working in a man’s world and also because she was not assertive about her own publicity. These two factors help explain why her work and achievements have been marginalised and why she faltered in later life. She had a nervous disposition and as her career progressed the tensions in her life grew. She was unable to capitalise on her success and became overshadowed by those that could. Eventually she tried to alleviate her anxiety by drinking heavily which ultimately led to her demise.

Over the years Dolly Tree has been overshadowed by her male contemporaries. At the Folies Bergere in Paris her work has been eclipsed by the towering edifice of Erte’s shrewd self publicity. In New York, Charles LeMaire's status and self importance obscured her Broadway credits and in Hollywood the excellence of MGM’s publicity machine has relegated her to a position of relative unimportance at the expense of glittering praise for Adrian. My aim is to create a more balanced perspective and place Dolly Tree more visibly in the limelight to receive the recognition that she so richly deserves. It can only be hoped that research into the work of all designers from this fascinating and productive period will continue and that more material will come to light and be saved for posterity.