Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles in 'Cabaret' Designed by Charlotte Flemming

Purple silk kimono style robe, purple silk overlaid with black silk tulle embroidered with multi colored flowers, attached black satin belt, ornamented at collar, cuff and hem with black fringe, pair of prop brown leather men's slippers, pair of prop black pearl drop earrings for head scarf, prop yellow chiffon scarf, prop grey slip with dark grey lace trim.

Liza Minnelli, daughter of director Vincent Minnelli and Judy Garland had already been nominated for an Oscar for her performance in “The Sterile Cuckoo” (1969). Cabaret was her first acting/singing role which propelled her to stardom and won her an Oscar for Best Actress in 1973

The film was based on the 1966 Broadway musical, which was based on the 1951 play “I Am a Camera” which was adapted from the Christopher Isherwood’s novel “The Berlin Stories.” It focused on Berlin’s bohemian club scene during the Weimar Republic. Liza Minnelli was cast in the leading role of Sally Bowles. Unlike the earlier reincarnations of the character, Ms. Minelli played the role as a talented singer and performer. Much of the frank depictions of sexuality- that had been cut out of the Broadway musical- were put back into the film. To make the musical more palatable to modern audiences, director Bob Fosse placed all the musical numbers within the context of the Kit Kat club and they were sung by Minnelli or Joel Grey, the club’s master of ceremony. The only exception was the folk song, “Tomorrow Belongs to Us’” sung by an Aryan youth signaling the rise of the Nazi party.

Shot in and around Munich Germany, the film’s locale contributed to costume designer Charlotte Flemming’s difficulties to find costumes from local sources. Minelli wanted vintage 30’s slinky clothing, but most of the vintage costumes for that era had been disposed of since the end of the war. Fosse’s, wife, Gwen Verdon took Minnelli to Paris and scoured through vintage markets to find the bits and pieces that would make up her wardrobe. The vintage 1920’s kimono cocoon bed jacket was in extremely poor condition and according to Gwen Verdon, she would sit the Minnelli’s dressing room and stitch the piece back together during breaks in filming.