Alice Davis
| Alice Estes Davis | |
|---|---|
Davis at the 2014 Annie Awards
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| Born |
Alice Estes 1929 (age 87–88) Escalon, California |
| Occupation | Costume designer |
| Spouse(s) | Marc Davis (m. 1956; d. 2000) |
Alice Estes Davis (born 1929) is an American costume designer. She is most famous for her work with Walt Disney, who employed her to develop costumes for films, television, and theme parks. She was married to Marc Davis, a Disney animator and Imagineer. Alice was named a Disney Legend in 2004.
Alice was born Alice Estes in Escalon, California. She was a talented artist in high school and received a scholarship from the Long Beach Art Association to study at the prestigious Chouinard Art Institute. Alice wanted to study animation at Chouinard Art Institute but due to the timing (World War II ending and the GI bill), there was a two-year waiting list to enter that field of study. So Chouinard, herself, got her in the school in the only opening they had for the next semester and that was in costume design.
She met Marc Davis, her future husband and fellow Disney Legend, while he was teaching a night class in animation. Though the class was full, Chouinard told her that she could attend the class if she "called the roll" and brought the chalk to class. They did not start dating at this time but they did develop a respect for one another.
After graduation, Alice began her career designing women's lingerie for the Beverly Vogue & Lingerie House in Los Angeles. Because of her skill, she quickly rose through the ranks to head designer. She designed two lines of fashion lingerie herself. Alice earned a reputation within the fashion community for her pattern-making skills and her expertise with different types of exotic fabrics.
In the mid-1950s, Alice received a call from Marc Davis. He needed a costume for dancer Helene Stanley to wear as she performed live-action reference footage for the animation of Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty; Marc wanted to see how the skirt flowed and bunched as Stanley moved about in order to draft accurate animation. During this project, she and Marc grew closer and eventually married in June 1956.
Walt Disney saw the two newlyweds at a Los Angeles restaurant one night and immediately took a liking to Alice and her quality work. Walt hired her as a costume designer for the 1960 Disney feature Toby Tyler. Alice also aided in the design of costumes for various other Disney television shows.
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