How Marlene Dietrich’s desire for a glowing dress became a reality - Chapter 2

Marlene had strong opinions and believed in herself. She aspired for couture design that made
designers think out of their comfort zone. As Lang looks at the picture, she says, “I came to Berlin and put up the picture in my home. Every day, before I left the house to make a mark, I looked at it for inspiration. It was like having a short conversation with Marlene before going to work like she was telling me ‘go and get them, girl’. It hung in my house for years.”

When Lang got the opportunity to work on The Marlene Project, it was as if Marlene accompanied her from home to work. “At that point, I moved the picture from my house to my workplace. It felt like the big fashion icon, Marlene, was validating our work. Everything we were doing made more sense."

The way Marlene planned her stage performances was phenomenal. She surrounded herself with the best staff possible. Every detail — from the beginning of the show till the end - was worked out in advance. Case in point are the extremely sophisticated and detailed stage lighting plans found in the Deutsche Kinemathek archives in Berlin (the city where she was born). Her approach to the dress she could never have was similar. Despite the detailed descriptions, designers were not able to fulfil Marlene’s desire to wear her the dream dress.