Larry McQueen is the collector behind the Collection of Motion Picture Costume Design in Los Angeles. Growing up, he knew that he loved theatre, but the world of film costuming was a complete mystery for him. As a young man, after completing his technical theater degree, he moved to Los Angeles. This was where he first began seeing film costumes being sold as Halloween costumes in local secondhand shops. For Larry, this served as a catalyst – he viewed these items as important pieces of film and Hollywood history that needed to be preserved.

     The Collection of Motion Picture Costume Design started through a partnership with the late Bill Thomas. Both Thomas and McQueen were in “the right place at the right time” as major studios began formal archival projects of their costume collections in the mid-1980s. The first piece that they purchased for the collection was a gown worn by Greta Garbo in the film “Queen Christina”.

     During those early years, Thomas and McQueen took jobs inventorying collections for studios, auction houses, and other collectors. McQueen describes this work as “glamorous as it may sound, it basically came down to moving a lot of hangers of a lot of dirty clothes in extremely hot warehouses, going through them looking for evidence of provenance and typing up endless lists and taking thousands of photos for identification. When we first started, it was before the age of the internet, so our main source of reference materials was books or businesses that sold movie stills. Because my ‘paying’ job was as an archivist at a law firm, I had the skills (and a computer at my disposal) to create the reports. It was grueling work but we learned so much during that wonderful time.”

     While many things have changed over the intervening years, the core of McQueen’s work remains the same. Although he now works mainly with his own collection and in a climate-controlled space, his average day still includes “moving boxes from shelf to shelf, archivally packing, endless typing of reports, and making repairs.”

     There are still surprising moments in the collection. For instance, Larry points out “…a costume that I purchased as part of a lot probably twenty years ago. I bought it because it was in excellent condition and I just knew it was something important. After initial research failed, it was boxed and stored until I started photographing all the pieces in my collection. In examining the piece thoroughly before photographing it, I discovered numbers written in it that I had missed on the first go-around. What began as an unknown piece turned into a Marlene Dietrich costume from the film ‘The Scarlet Empress’. I love those moments or even the moments when you discover a costume was worn in another film.”


Larry’s final words of advice?

     “One of the things that I have learned about my life and the experiences that I have had in the past has gotten me to the point where I am today. It all comes together. I have always had two jobs at the same time. One job paid the bills. The other job to express some passion. My longest paying job was working at a law firm as an archivist, learning how to organize and document massive amounts of material. At night I worked in the theatre, had a business making flower arrangements and decorating people’s homes for the holidays, and then, working with movie costumes. Everything I have done, in some way or another, directly contributes to and supports what I do today. So, if I were to tell my younger self anything (who probably would not listen), it would be to stay responsible but live your passions. It takes both to be happy.”

     In January 2021, Larry McQueen was featured in a Dress & Drinks webinar that can be seen on our YouTube channel. You can check out all of our Curator Profiles by clicking here.


~Profile written by Lauren Clark

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