Advertisement When Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard, and the-then Diane Ross met as children, in a housing commission in Detroit in the 1950s, there was no telling that they would not only one day become the most famous girl group of all time, but that their breathtaking costumes would play an important role in the civil rights movement. But with their heavily embellished chandelier gowns, body-hugging dresses with matching turkey-feathers circling the hems, shimmering capes and elaborate hairstyles â created with the help of Hollywood designers including Bob Mackie and Michael Travis â they changed racial perceptions at a time when the United States was becoming engulfed by political upheaval during growing unrest over the fight for equal rights.