Behind the Scenes : Mitzi Gaynor Knows Glamour When She Sees It--and She Still Sees It in Bob Mackie’s Designs

To a veteran of pre-tarnished Hollywood, the trend of late to be natural, unassuming and subdued signals the end of a true art form: glamour dressing.

Film star Mitzi Gaynor, whose famously wild costumes still capture all the glitz of a vintage musical and Vegas showgirl act, laments the loss.

“I can’t handle grunge. I can’t handle the chic of it. Dressing is really becoming a lost art while being real has become popular,” says the song-and-dance actress whose performance in the 1958 classic “South Pacific” ranks among her better known roles. “But for those of us living during the ‘50s and ‘60s, dressing up was real. All of those things--the lashes, the heels, the glamour--they were real to us.”

Gaynor will take her reality of fantasy to the Good Time Theatre stage at Knott’s Berry Farm this Saturday for a two-hour revue benefiting the Buena Park Cultural Arts Foundation and the Buena Park Fine Arts Commission.

But in her Beverly Hills home a few days before her performance, she’s thinking only of the deconstructed glam style. MTV, says Gaynor, has put everyone either in “motorcycle gear or underwear.” But then there’s Geena Davis. “Now she’s glamorous. Madonna has a lot of glamour too. What I’d really like to see her do now is dance in heels.”

Gaynor, 62, also laments the lack of glamour among fashion designers. “Nolan Miller has a good hold on glamour. I wear a lot of his suits. I like tailored things. David Hayes is another designer I love.”

But her true love is the man she met in 1966 and who has since designed close to 500 costumes for her--Bob Mackie. She will wear 14 of Mackie’s creations at Saturday’s show. Credited by Mackie as the one who launched his career, Gaynor recalls she “just about fainted” the first time she saw his sketches.

As for the first time she met the young designer, Gaynor says she mistook Mackie for a fan. “I said, ‘my God, you’re 13 years old!’ ”

From then a friendship and working relationship forged that created a name for both Mackie and Gaynor, and resulted in costumes detailed with bugle beads, rhinestones, tassels and feathers--all the fixings of a truly fantastically flashy ensemble. “Bob doesn’t just do a boa,” says Gaynor, “that wouldn’t be enough.”

Don’t expect Gaynor to trot out on the town in showgirl glitz, however. She opts for subdued neutrals in fashion-forward silhouettes--such as the black crepe bell-bottoms and Tee she wore to an event last weekend. And during the day she tinkers around her home in jeans and a white pique shirt--knotted at the front to show off her waistline.

“I prefer short skirts, but if it’s a long skirt it has to have a slit. But that’s the glamour of it, right?”