#gold dress

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One Dress a Week Challenge

May: Gold & Silver

Oceans 8 / Mindy Kaling as Amita

This may be my favorite of the “camouflage” dresses the crew wear to blend in with the crowd at the Met Gala. Sadly, they only appear for a short time onscreen, and we don’t get a chance to see them from multiple angles, so I’m very glad the dress has been exhibited. I didn’t even realize that it’s actually a sleeveless dress with a matching coat/cape.

I love the subtle sprinkling of colored beads over the shoulders. They’re not separately visible onscreen, but they add a richness to the color.

One Dress a Week Challenge

May: Gold & Silver

Darling Lili / Julie Andrews as Lili Schmidt

Lili wears this bead-encrusted golden dress for a night out with Bill, the dashing pilot she’s trying to seduce for information and may actually be falling for. According to the collector’s page (where I also found a lot of the pictures), it’s made of silk faille and chiffon and was constructed by the Western Costume Company in Hollywood.The tiara, gold shoes, and deep-blue fur-trimmed cape make it look like the ultimate in World War I-era luxuriousness. (As interpreted through a 1960s lens, of course.)

I think the imaginative design of the bodice is very attractive. I always thought of this as the “butterfly front” dress, but on studying it more closely, I’d say it’s actually more like a flower shape. I notice that the display photo is missing the central piece of sparkle, with the blue stone, which suggests it is probably a separate piece of jewelry.

One Dress a Week Challenge

May: Gold & Silver

Diane / Marisa Pavan as Catherine de Medici

Catherine wears this golden gown with orange and red accents to the climactic tournament, in which she represents the Queen of the Sun (with Diane in black and white as Queen of the Moon). It’s 16th century by way of 1950s Hollywood, but Walter Plunkett did his research and knew he was bending the rules a bit. There’s a great article on his costumes for this movie here.

This dress is usually seen from a distance in the film, which allows us to appreciate its overall design and structure, but I wish there were a few more closeups so we could get good look at the detail! I don’t know if the dress has survived; I couldn’t find any auction records for it, which might provide more documentation. The gloves were auctioned, though, so we can appreciate the beautiful and intricate decoration on them.

One Dress a Week Challenge

May: Gold & Silver

Cover Girl / Rita Hayworth as Rusty Parker

Rusty wears this dress for the big production number when she’s become a Broadway star. This dress must have looked so luxurious to wartime audiences, with all that gold material in the skirt! It’s a very warm gold color, helped by the pinkish tone of the lights. But as pretty as the dress is, I think the coat that goes with it is even more spectacular. The gif of Rusty removing the coat is from this blog, and the accompanying comment tickles me so much that I just have to quote it:

“I find this footage of Rita Hayworth mesmerizing. The shimmer. The glitter. The gold. It’s like the peeling back of an exquisite chocolate bar. I could watch it for hours. And what does a girl have to do to get those hairpin curls? Oh Hollywood, you’re just not the same.”

One Dress a Week Challenge

May: Gold & Silver

Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears / Essie Davis as Phryne Fisher

Phryne wears both silver and gold in this movie, donning this sequined dress and cape to go dazzle an old flame. It’s been long enough since I saw the movie that I don’t remember now why she was wearing this dress in the daytime, but it seems to have the desired effect.

The cape is very pretty! The black top provides a dramatic contrast to the dress, while the gold at the bottom helps to transition into the dress skirt and make the whole thing look like a coordinated outfit. I’ve included a close-up of the organic-looking designs at the transition point.

The bottom photo comes from an exhibit of costumes from the movie and appears to show the dress without the cape.

One Dress a Week Challenge

May: Gold & Silver

The Barkleys of Broadway / Ginger Rogers as Dinah Barkley

I just found out that The Barkleys of Broadway opened on on May 4, 1949, so that makes this dress extra-appropriate for today! Ginger wears this gold lame dress in the opening sequence. Unfortunately, it’s hard to get a good look at it in action because the opening credits appear over this number. Fortunately, you can see a version without the text in That’s Entertainment III (video below).

I’m fascinated by the way the skirt moves! I’m wondering if it might be a little weighted because of the way it twists into those bubble or trumpet shapes.

I also note that the jewelry is a little different between the publicity shots and the screencaps from the movie itself. The screen versions of the choker and bracelet are wider and more open. (Fred also goes from black tie in the publicity shots to white tie in the movie.)

One Dress a Week Challenge

May: Gold & Silver

Shakespeare in Love / Gwyneth Paltrow as Viola de Lesseps

I debated whether to call this dress gold/silver or yellow, but I eventually decided it has enough metallic elements to qualify for this month.

Notice that both the inner and outer sleeves are decorated with embroidery! I really like the delicate standing ruff and how it frames her face. The little silver cap is also very pretty.

One Dress a Week Challenge

May: Gold & Silver

Restoration (1995) / Polly Walker as Celia Clemence

Celia wears this ornate metallic gown for the brief scene in which she and Robert are officially betrothed. I am honestly not sure whether this dress is gold or silver! If I had to guess, I’d say pale gold–but it looks gold in some shots and silver in others, and the fact that the whole scene is bathed in golden light confuses the matter further. Either way, it creates a spectacular effect, helped along by lavish jewelry.

James Acheson won a well-deserved Oscar for the costume design in this film.

One Dress a Week Challenge

May: Gold & Silver

Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries / Geraldine Hakewill as Peregrine Fisher

Peregrine wears this dress to a New Year’s Eve party. It may be inspired by the famous Paco Rabanne silver dress from Two for the Road, although it has a different neckline and the decor is slightly more elaborate. The top part has beads mixed with sparse sequins, and the sequins get thicker going down the skirt. This creates a subtle effect in which the bottom half of the dress looks darker, but also shinier. See below for a comparison.

For accessories, Peregrine wears a gold openwork bracelet and ring, earrings that seem meant to match the dress (but I can’t quite tell what they’re made of), gold nail polish, and gold high-heeled sandals with laced straps. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a good screencap showing the sandals.

One Dress a Week Challenge

May: Gold & Silver

Elizabeth / Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I

Although this movie’s costumes were known for being loose interpretations of historical styles rather than painstakingly accurate, they did do quite a faithful recreation of Elizabeth’s actual coronation gown, right down to the tassels on the closure! The thing that is surprising is that it’s just one of her regular dresses that she wears to a dance earlier in the film. I looked up the date of Elizabeth I’s coronation, and it was two months after the death of Mary, so in real life she had ample time to have a new gown made for the occasion.

The dress looks far less grand without the accompanying ruff, jewelry, and ermine-edged cloak. In fact, I don’t think I even registered that it was the same garment on first viewing.

(EDIT:@theladyelizabeth mentioned on a reblog that IRL, Elizabeth wore Mary’s coronation gown, just altered to fit her. But in that case, she still would be unlikely to be wearing it to dances!)

One Dress a Week Challenge

May: Gold & Silver

Batman (Batman 66) / Eartha Kitt as Catwoman

This is a deep cut, and to be honest, the dress itself is nothing special … but it made me chuckle, so I wanted to include it! Catwoman steals the famed “golden fleece” dress from Queen Bess of Belgravia (pictured below) because she’s angry at being left off Gotham City’s “best dressed list” while Batgirl, of all people, made the cut.

Before rewatching this episode, I had not seen Batman 66 since I was approximately ten years old. While I knew it was lighthearted, I never fully appreciated exactly how silly it was before seeing it as an adult. Eartha Kitt was having positively indecent amounts of fun with all the dastardly plans and cat puns. And Batman proclaiming solemnly, “Catwoman is evil, but she is attractive” made my day.

Oh, and the dress: it’s made of some fairly stiff material in a “fairytale princess” sort of shape. It does fit pretty well, at least! There’s a bit of rickrack at the sleeves and hem. Catwoman accessorizes with her trademark black mask, plus a fan and a necklace of gold medallions.

One Dress a Week Challenge

May: Gold & Silver

Cover Girl / Rita Hayworth as Rusty Parker

The modeling gig that gets Rusty her big break is being chosen as the cover girl for the “golden wedding” edition of the fictional Vanity magazine. The dress could be called yellow, but it has a slight metallic sheen and gold ribbons worked into it. It seems a bit low-cut for a wedding dress, but the actual cover shot has the veil wrapped around so it’s not as noticeable. The bodice and veil have snowflake decorations as well; not sure how that goes with the “golden” theme, but it’s pretty, anyway! It’s a shame we never get to see the full skirt, because I wonder if there are also snowflakes worked into that.

One Dress a Week Challenge

May: Gold & Silver

Leverage (“The Girls’ Night Out Job”) / Beth Riesgraf as Parker

Parker wears this gold minidress with matching pumps to a formal event (after stealing someone’s dry cleaning because she needed fancy clothes on short notice). For such a simple silhouette, the construction of the dress is surprisingly intricate. You can see the seams down the sides and darts in the back to make it more form-fitting, plus ruching in two directions in the front and multiple straps across the back. The complicated arrangement of straps might also be a plus for her, as it would remind her of her climbing harness!

As a bonus, Tara and Sophie also appear in their dresses in a couple of shots.

One Dress a Week Challenge

May: Gold & Silver

Cold Comfort Farm / Kate Beckinsale as Flora Poste

I really love the sheer shouldercape on this dress, with its lacy pattern and the flower design in back. It looks as if the dress might possibly also have a flounced skirt, but since the best full-length view of it is in motion and seen through the bannisters, it’s hard to be sure.

For accessories, Flora has a silver sequined or beaded clutch purse, a delicate watch, and a fancy hair clip.

One Dress a Week Challenge

May: Gold & Silver

The Scarlet Pimpernel / Jane Seymour as Marguerite St. Just Blakeney

I thought at first that this gown was styled a little too early, but after doing a little research, I think it’s spot on. The story is set in 1792, which was about the last gasp of the “classic” 18th-century style before waistlines started creeping upward. Already, the panniers have disappeared, and the hairstyles are more wide than tall.

Costume design is credited to Phyllis Dalton. I doubt she had a huge budget, but this dress looks appropriately lavish for the wife of a nobleman to wear to a ball. The gold lace around the neckline is a particularly nice touch, as it appears in all the close-up shots.

The decorated underskirt only shows briefly when she’s walking or moving, but I managed to get a couple of screencaps where it’s visible.

One Dress a Week Challenge

May: Gold & Silver

Dungeons and Dragons / Thora Birch as Empress Savina

Let’s be clear: this is a terrible movie. A terrible movie. About the only thing that makes it watchable is Jeremy Irons deciding to throw all caution to the wind and chew the scenery with abandon. The costumes aren’t great either, on the whole; they look low-budget and stagey at their best, “local costume shop rental” at their worst.

But still, I feel like this dress shows just a glimmer of possibility for the movie to have been something better, something fun and cheesy in the vein of Flash Gordon. A bit of thought and even worldbuilding went into this costume. The dragon-claw-as-Elizabethan-ruff effect is actually kind of clever, one of the few things that goes beyond the most generic Ren Faire design.

They’ve also incorporated a few Asian-inspired elements, like the flared shoulders. I half suspect someone was watching The Phantom Menace the previous year and busily taking notes.