Before crystal figurines and Christmas gifting transformed Swarovski into a household name in the 70s, the Austrian glassmaker had become Hollywood’s preeminent purveyor of crystals some decades before. Founded in 1895 by Daniel Swarovski, the company was popular amongst the Parisian showgirls and American flappers of the 1920s, before catching the eye of the silver screen, appearing first on Marlene Dietrich in 1932’s Blonde Venus. From there business boomed, with Swarovski crystals dominating costume design in the 50s, 60s and beyond, from The Wizard of Oz and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes to Shakespeare in Love and Moulin Rouge. It’s the latest edition of the company’s travelling exhibition that brings this symbiotic relationship to life.

After opening in Shanghai in 2023, and subsequent stops in Seoul and Milan, Masters of Light stopped off in the home of Western cinema for 2025. “As soon as they said it was going to be in LA, immediately we thought we had to tailor it to Hollywood,” Alexander Fury told us, exhibition curator for every international edition, including Masters of Light: Hollywood. 2025 also marks the brand’s 130th anniversary, so Fury, creative director Giovanna Engelbert and everyone at Swarovski HQ knew they had to pull out all the stops for this one. Brokering deals with celebs, studios and private collectors, the history of Hollywood was told through Swarovski crystals at the latest exhibition, setting it apart from previous stops in Italy and China. “Instead of it being a space dedicated to pure fashion, it became this space that’s about fashion and film costume design, which I actually think was really effective,” said Fury of the space.

For those who weren’t lucky enough to secure a ticket, scroll down for the history of Hollywood told through six pieces on display in the exhibit.

GRETA GARBO, 1933

A contract star for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Greta Garbo took an 18-month leave of absence from the silver screen in the early 30s, which may not seem that long, but was an age for the Hollywood studio system. Garbo returned with 1933’s Queen Christina, where she played her native Sweden’s most famous queen and was dressed by the great Adrian Adolph Greenberg, known mononymously as Adrian. “Adrian was just the biggest,” says Fury. “He used to design for Joan Crawford and it’s true to say that he was more powerful than a fashion house in the 30s.” The Swarovski-embellished dress above from the exhibition is owned by costume collector Larry McQueen, loaned exclusively for Masters of Light.

MARLENE DIETRICH, 1937

Marlene Dietrich was another huge star of the time, and though she worked with Paramount Studios’ resident costume designer Travis Banton, she was “as much a designer as Banton, literally building the costumes with him”, according to Fury. For the 1937 film Angel, Paramount produced the most expensive garment the studio had ever made – a crystallised column gown and matching fur stole. “Dietrich really wanted it after the film,” says Fury. “She wanted it, and they wouldn’t give it to her. They reused it about ten times for all different films. They chopped the sleeves off it, they turned the jacket back to front – at one point, they took the fur off that stole and made it into a head wrap.” When Larry McQueen bought the dress in 1990 for his collection, it was “basically like a box of beads”, so he took it to a specialist to reconstruct. After the task proved too time-consuming even for them, McQueen asked the specialists to teach him the techniques to repair it, and he began the painstaking 3,000-hour journey back to what we saw in the exhibition.

MARILYN MONROE, 1953

By 1953, Swarovski’s reputation had been firmly secured in Hollywood, thanks to the success of The Wizard of Oz and its ruby red slippers. That year, Swarovski were tasked with making the jewels for the Marilyn Monroe feature Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, whose plot revolved around a suspected diamond heist. The jewels were made by Italian studio Atelier Marangoni using Swarovski crystals, and Swarovski actually acquired the studio in 199, so they now own all the props from the film.

JUDI DENCH, 1998

When you think of Swarovski crystals, you don’t really think of Dame Judi Dench as Elizabeth I, but that’s a testament to the extent that the company has infiltrated popular culture. Costume designer Sandy Powell adorned Dench’s Shakespeare in Love outfit in Swarovski crystals, and the actor went on to win an Oscar for eight minutes on screen. “The thing that’s interesting with costume designers is there’s not a kind of preciousness to costume. A lot of the time they’ll take it and then they’ll rip it up and rework it again and again,” says Fury. “With Sandy, she was like ‘actually, let’s put more crystal on it [for the exhibition]. She was basically like, ‘we can make this look even better’.”

NICOLE KIDMAN, 2001

Swarovski also worked with acclaimed costume designer Catherine Martin for 2001’s Moulin Rouge. For Nicole Kidman’s courtesan Satine, Martin designed a silver showgirl outfit, its bodice scalloping modelled after a dress Marilyn Monroe wore in the 1956 film Bus Stop. Kidman’s look in the film incorporates traditionally masculine features, like blazer lapels and a top hat. “There was lots of stuff back then with women playing with masculinity. It was seen as very controversial and very provocative, and therefore it was kind of sexy,” says Fury. “It’s very difficult to comprehend the fact that if someone had decided to be an actress at that point, it’s like you were separating yourself from society.”

CINDERELLA, 2015

A more recent Hollywood icon on display in the exhibition was Cinderella’s slipper from Disney’s 2015 live-action remake. Worn in the film by British actor Lily James, the shoe was a collaboration between Sandy Powell and Swarovski and is made of three different crystal pieces with 221 different facets (the flat, polished surface on a crystal or gemstone). Swarovski also collaborated with Powell on the rest of the movie, with over 100 tiaras made for the pivotal ball scene, and a staggering 1.7 million crystals used throughout the film.