#marisa pavan

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.