Travis Banton, Hollywood costume designer known for the Paramount Look, the son of Rennie B. and Maggie Jones Banton, was born at Waco, Texas, on August 18, 1894. When he was two the family moved to New York. Bantons parents later joined him in Hollywood. During his early years in New York his talents developed in art, theater, and custom fashion design. He served in the navy during World War I,qv enrolled at Columbia University to please his parents, and studied at the Art Students League and the New York School of Fine and Applied Art. He worked on his own as a dress designer and at the fashion house of Lucile. While he was an apprentice with Madame Francis or Frances his designs were selected by Mary Pickford for her wedding to Douglas Fairbanks. After designing for Norma Talmadge in the East Coast film Poppy 1917, he soon distinguished himself with costumes for the Ziegfeld Follies and other stage productions, an interest he resumed at the end of his life by dressing Rosalind Russell in the 1956 Broadway production of Auntie Mame. At the time of his death, Banton was designing for Dinah Shores television show.

Address: 1155 Union Circle #311580, Denton, TX 76203-5017
Telephone: (940) 369-5200
Fax: (940) 369-5248
Website: http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/BB/fbacl.html