#musical costumes
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
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
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
Josie and the Pussycats / Rosario Dawson as Valerie Brown, plus Rachel Leigh Cook as Josie McCoy and Tara Reid as Melody Valentine
The trio wears these sparkly silver outfits for their first music video when they hit the big time. Technically, only Valerie’s is a dress and the other two are pantsuits, but they are a group and should be featured together! I like the fact that each one is unique, with a different neckline.
Valerie’s dress features spaghetti straps and large cutouts at the sides with silver strings to add some visual interest to the empty space. She also has a high slit skirt and lines of glitter up her arms.
Josie’s top has a ring neck, leaving the shoulders bare, while Melody’s is completely strapless and has streamers hanging over her midriff. Melody also has elaborate swirls of glitter on her arms, while Josie seems to have been given just a general dusting.
And of course, they all have kitty-ears headbands!
One Dress a Week Challenge
June: Grey
Royal Wedding / Jane Powell as Ellen Bowen
This cute musical number is supposed to be part of a show that the main characters are doing. In it, a bored king falls for the maid who comes in to dust “Ev'ry Night at Seven.” And yes, the characters are brother and sister … but ehhhh, Fred did romantic stories with his sister when they were on Broadway, and look, the theater was just different in those days, okay?
I had originally pulled this dress back in March for the month of white, only to realize that it was actually a very pale grey. With lace around the sweetheart neckline! And sparkles on the ruffled skirt! And a cute little apron with sparkly trim! The costume harmonizes nicely with the king’s grey uniform as well.
One Dress a Week Challenge
May: Gold & Silver
Darling Lili / Julie Andrews as Lili Schmidt
This movie has not one, but two beautifully detailed gold dresses–and this one looks, if anything, even more extravagant than the other one! The side-opening cape and the sheer amount of golden detail give it a Byzantine appearance.
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.
