Barbara Stanwyck as Lorna Bounty in 'The Man With A Cloak' Designed by Walter Plunkett

Two piece period gown of pale pink and bronze silk consisting of fitted bodice, full length sleeves trimmed with pale peach lace; full-length skirt consisting of striped panels of pink and bronze. (Bias label sewn into the garment which reads "Barbara Stanwyck 1544 8378").

Stanwyck rejected being a contract star, thus allowing her to pick her own roles and control her own career but, because of her reputation as a true professional and a favored star to work with, worked with multiple studios and directors. On the other hand, because she didn’t have a studio publicity machine behind her creating the hype around her, she probably didn’t achieve the stratospheric star status she deserved. The self-proclaimed “tough old dame from Brooklyn” excelled in comedy but is probably best known for her strong, bitchy killing con women.

The Man with a Cloak is set in New York in 1848. Even though Marlene Dietrich was the first choice for the role, Stanwyck plays the conniving housekeeper and mistress who is scheming to acquire the family estate. Her plans are thwarted with the help of- no other than- The Man in the Cloak, Edgar Allen Poe.

This costume, designed by Walter Plunket, it probably one of the simpler designs in the film, but is incredibly designed an executed in depicting a woman who is being kept by a man she despises.