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In Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood, Anna May Wong’s fabulous costumes steal the show

Michelle Krusiec plays the Chinese-American star of 1930s cinema in the inclusive, revisionist take on Hollywood’s golden age, dazzling in gowns created for the Netflix show by designer Lou Eyrich.

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Michelle Krusiec, who plays Anna May Wong in Ryan Murphy’s newest show for Netflix, Hollywood, in an Asian-inspired silk dressing gown. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:00pm, 8 May 2020Updated: 2:50pm, 12 May 2020

In his latest series for streaming giant Netflix, Ryan Murphy – the producer behind shows such as Glee, American Horror Story and The Politician – indulges in some revisionist history, reimagining the golden age of the silver screen.

Murphy’s Hollywood is inclusive and open-minded, a place where stars such as Rock Hudson didn’t have to stay in the closet, black actors and screenwriters could make it big and minorities were not typecast as stereotypical supporting characters.

The show spotlights Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong, who rose to prominence in the 1930s and was famously dealt a blow by film studio MGM when she lost the leading role – a Chinese character – in The Good Earth (1937) to Luise Rainer, a Caucasian actress who won an Oscar for her performance.

Krusiec and Laura Harrier dazzle in fur in Hollywood. Photo: Handout

Played by Taiwanese-American actress Michelle Krusiec, Hollywood’s Wong steals the limelight in fabulous costumes created for the show by designer Lou Eyrich.

From an elegant Asian-inspired dressing gown in yellow silk to a stunning fur ensemble for a red-carpet appearance that wouldn’t pass muster in the age of PETA, Krusiec’s character evokes old Hollywood glamour, without any of the trite references to the “dragon lady” roles that the real Hollywood boxed her into throughout her career.