Elegance is the only beauty that never fades
Audrey Hepburn
This is going to be a recurring segment here, a chance to talk about two things I love: Old Hollywood and style.
I’ll admit that much like a popular doll brand from the 2000s I too have a huge passion for fashion. I’ve done costuming for too many shows to count and even worked in a costume department at a theme park.
But enough justifying, let’s talk fashion! And what better way to talk about clothing and style than through the most fashionable people I can think of - Old Hollywood stars.
I want to start with segment with a very personal list. This is not a top five dresses of all time or even my personal favorites. Though you can look out for those lists soon!
This list is more important to me. These are the top five dresses that impacted me. These are the gowns that made me fall in love with Old Hollywood to start with. These are the looks that were featured on movie posters we had in our house. These were life changing dresses.
I have asked my mother to make me all of these dresses, repeatedly. (To anyone wondering her response- it was that I also knew how to sew and that I could make them myself. I didn’t.)
Top 5 dresses that made me love Old Hollywood
Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra
Elizabeth Taylor in my opinion will always be the most beautiful woman ever. I was whole-heartedly convinced I was named after her- I am not.
A google search has informed me that Elizabeth had 65 (!) different costumes for this film. The whole movie, Elizabeth Taylor is in these show-stopping gowns with elaborate headdresses, but I was always drawn to this dark green number. The tight dress is simple with some well placed gold embroidery. It isn’t the most elaborate dress in the movie and is nowhere near historically accurate, but this is the dress I think about constantly. The cut is perfect on her, and I think its simplicity makes it even more of a standout.
Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch
I mean. . . there was no doubt this was going to be on the list. There is no list anywhere that doesn’t include Marilyn Monroe in her white dress. This dress IS history. But forgetting the grate and the wind blowing the skirt up, this is just another simple dress done so well. Marilyn has proven that she could pull off anything even a potato sack (that’s real, I promise, and it is totally worth a Google), but this dress was particularly perfect for her. What girl hasn’t idolized the way her dress perfectly flies out from under her, while Marilyn stands there looking gorgeous. Every girl wanted to be just like Marilyn in that scene. Or at least I did. I would stand over grates constantly and just wait for my Marilyn moment. What other movie dress has had the same impact as this dress?
Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind
All the dresses from Gone with the Wind are perfect. I will accept no argument on this. I’d like to note that if this list was about just my favorite dresses of all time, it would be a different dress from this movie. But growing up this dress was the epitome of beauty to me. Vivien is so lovely, and this dress proves it. All movie we see her in her signature green, and then all of a sudden its a tight red dress. She goes from her big dresses to her red dress with feathers, and its shocking in the best way. My goal in life is to show up to a party in this dress. Preferably a birthday party for my love’s wife, but that might be too much..
Charmian Carr in The Sound of Music
I know this is a controversial pick, and my response is that I stand by it a million percent. The way the dress moves when she dances was so amazing to me. We actually had a book by Charmian Carr about The Sound of Music and on the cover she wears this dress. I would always steal the book from my mom and look through it hoping for more photos of this dress. My life was consumed by this dress. I thought about it constantly. I wasn’t the biggest fan of The Sound of Music, but I would watch it constantly for just the scene of her dancing in this dress. I think some of it was that she was 16 going on 17 and hence a cool teen. So her wardrobe was the very idea of trendy and cool to me.
Upon reflection of someone who hasn’t been 16 in 7 years I still think its a cool dress.
Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s
I adore Audrey Hepburn. It might seem like a weird choice to use the movie poster but I can explain: This was the exact movie poster we had hanging in our house, in prime location, mind you. So every day coming down the steps you were greeted by this poster. To me this was the epitome of fashion, style, and class. You literally couldn’t get better than this. I would spend way too much time staring at this poster and hoping that when I grew up I would look exactly like Audrey Hepburn. I would put on my mom’s long black dress and pretend my pencil was a little cigarette. I was convinced I would grow up to be just like her. So while that didn’t happen, this dress is still everything to me. It is a designer dress that reads as classy and simple instead of overdone. The dress fits like a glove without reading tacky and just shows how beautiful Audrey was.
Upon review, almost all of these dresses that had such a big impression on me have one thing in common: They are simple dresses in classic colors. None of them, with the possible exception of Vivien Leigh’s dress, is what I would call overly elaborate or ornate. Though to defend both her and my list, the point of Vivien’s dress is how overdone it is.
I’m not sure what it says about me that I was so draw to simplicity. That all these dresses I thought were the very personification of class are more straightforward dresses.
But I do know that all of these dresses shaped my ideas of what fashion is and how important a good dress is. I grew up idolizing these dresses, I worshiped them. Upon further review. I think it is time that I pick up a sewing machine... and ask my mom once again to make these dresses for me.
Fun list. I think you definitely could make these dresses!
Your Charmian Carr choice is right on. Great observation