Synopsis

Sportswriter Mike Hagen and fashion designer Marilla Brown fall in love during a whirlwind California romance and marry before discovering how different their lives are. Their clashing social circles create comic chaos in New York, while Mike's investigation of a crooked boxing promoter puts his life at risk. Misunderstandings involving former lovers and hidden secrets test whether their marriage can survive.

Factoids & Trivia

• Costume designer Helen Rose originated the story idea, which allowed her to create dozens of gowns and dresses for Marilla.

• The film uses an unusual mock-documentary device: several characters introduce the story by speaking directly to the camera, while Gregory Peck, Lauren Bacall and Dolores Gray intermittently provide voice-over narration. Characters also address the audience in the closing epilogues.

• The hangover sequence features exaggerated sound effects, including the amplified noise of a shirt pin falling into a wastebasket.

• Grace Kelly and James Stewart were originally considered for the two leads. Cyd Charisse was later attached to the project before Lauren Bacall joined the production.

• Portions of the film were shot at the Beverly Hills Hotel and Marineland of the Pacific, as well as on other Los Angeles-area locations.

• Producer Dore Schary's work on the film was notable because it was his first comedy and his final film for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

• George Wells won the Academy Award for Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. The film also received a Writers Guild of America nomination for Best Written American Comedy.

• Designing Woman marked choreographer Jack Cole's first acting role in a feature film.

• Although the movie is sometimes described as a remake of MGM's Woman of the Year (1942), the American Film Institute notes that the two films share some themes and character similarities but have different stories.