What is your choice for the best film costume ever worn?

[anneboleyn]

What would you consider to be the best film costume ever worn? I am thinking of one of those scene or, better, film-stealing pieces that creates its own visual dimension in the film -- a costume or outfit that once worn, changes our sense of the character and his/her fate forever.

My choices:

1. Keira Knightley's green silk backless 1930s-era gown in Atonement
2. Ilsa's white suit in Casablanca
3. Scarlett's "curtain dress" in Gone with the Wind
4. Darth Vader's entire all-black ensemble, worn when we first behold him on screen in the original Star Wars (very GenX of me)

My top choice is Keira Knightley's green dress in Atonement. That dress just had this perfect quality -- the vibrant shade of brilliant green, worn by a beautiful actress at precisely the right moment in the film -- a crucial turning point when love and tragedy meet and merge (ah, James McAvoy as the tragic Robbie Turner...when he first catches sight of Keira (as Cecilia) in that gorgeous frock...).



Apologies -- I am too illiterate technologically to post a pic, so here is a link to a good image of Knightley in the dress, without her smoking. If anyone else can post the pic, I would greatly appreciate it!Thanks to everyone for your ideas.

[anneboleyn]

1. Oh, never mind, the picture turns up anyway! Love that dress!

[anneboleyn]

39. Here is the original pic I posted, without the weird elbow (not breast!), and with the cigarette.

I think the dress looks better in this image. She is standing in front of the family's palatial home, waiting for her lover Robbie (the son of a servant on the estate played by the marvelous James McAvoy) to return to her. Of course when he does a tragic event takes place so it's a poignant moment...

[Bucky]

98. She's poignant in that picture? Funny, she sure doesn't look poignant. How far along is she?

[NNadir]

2. In the picture, she's stuck some burning biomass in her mouth.

It's very unsexy.

[anneboleyn]

3. Yes, that is a problem. The film is set in 1935 and in England so there is some smoking going on.

[Richardo]

20. I'm a non-smoker and I say show the cigarette pic.

It's faithful to the time and material. Not everyone is so sqeamish about it.

Do we have to allow PC police censor everything they find objectionable?

[anneboleyn]

40. I agree -- I posted the original pic, which I think shows the full beauty of the dress.

[Richardo]

53. Thanks - that is a great pic

...and not at all objectionable IMO.

[Bucky]

99. Saying that cigarettes aren't attractive is not "censoring" anything.

It's just as PC to accuse anyone's contrary opinion of being censorship.

[anneboleyn]

4. Updated, without the objectionable cigarette.

[AllenVanAllen]

5. I don't know if this fits

but I think Tim Curry as Darkness from Legend

[anneboleyn]

6. I think it fits -- I nominated Darth Vader! I LOVE Tim Curry in this film. And Mia Sara.

[AllenVanAllen]

7. and

David Bowie as Jereth the Goblin King from Labyrinth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi1A9s6WTiw

[anneboleyn]

28. Yes, one of my favorites. I loved Bowie in this role and wondered why Jennifer Connelly didn't feel

the same -- who doesn't want to be the Queen of a magical land if David Bowie is your King?? And indeed, the fantastic attire made the role. I love the Edwardian (maybe Victorian?) cut of his jacket.

[Aristus]

38. I was able to answer that one when I was a kid. Connelly's character discovers at the end

that the land of the Labyrinth really isn't a magical fantasy land. At least not in a good way. It's a place of deception and danger. A place where the only appealing fantasy was the result of a drug-induced delusion (the hallucinatory ball that appears when she eats the peach.) And the Goblin King isn't magnificent and awe-inspiring at all. He's a lonely and slightly pathetic conjuror who can't even win the love and respect of a self-absorbed junior high school girl.

While we're on the subject, I nominate Jennifer Connelly and her ball gown.

[anneboleyn]

48. Oh, I loved that gown. And well-put -- though I have to admit that the dark and dangerous aspects

are what attracted me to Bowie's Goblin King. And I found his loneliness and isolation appealing. Of course I was also a fan of Tim Curry as Darkness in Legend, so I was clearly drawn to the troubled types!

When I first saw Labyrinth, I believe I was in junior high -- and I thought Connelly's dress was the most perfect thing I had ever seen, a perfect prom gown (!). Those puffy sleeves!

[Aristus]

56. I saw Labyrinth in the theaters only a few weeks before I shipped out for the Army.

I had the most awful, heart-rending schoolboy crush on Jennifer Connelly back then. (I was only 17) Her face haunted me every night after lights out during Basic Training. That first scene ("Give me the child...") and the ballroom scene. I was a little obsessed...

[AllenVanAllen]

63. I had a crush on Jennifer Connelly too.

And I also 17 at the time. I still think she's very attractive but a little too thin now.

[anneboleyn]

66. I thought she was beautiful in that film, with that luscious dark hair.

Of course, I happened to like Bowie in that film, but I remember those teenage crushes. I had a desperate crush on Sting, wallpaperd my room with The Police posters, etc.

[AllenVanAllen]

61. I was a big fan of The Muppets

and of Bowie's music so when this came out I thought the whole thing was very cool.

[Ikonoklast]

85. I don't think that counts.

That's what Bowie wore when he showed up on the set the first day of the shoot, I think it was the first thing he grabbed out of his closet.

[Lorax7844]

131. Chewbacca and Tim Curry IS Pennywise

[ThomCat]

27. I would have to say, that is definitely one of the best.

I don't know which one I would say is the absolute best, but this one is definitely in the running.

[AllenVanAllen]

60. The time Darkness spends on the screen

really stayed with me. It was an excellent re envisioning of such a classic design.

[AllenVanAllen]

8. I have to mention Heath Ledger

as the Joker from Batman: The Dark Knight


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pMT2t00GO0

[anneboleyn]

42. I thought the reinterpretation of the Joker (by Heath) was really brilliant. He made it his own.

Heath was such a gifted actor. Sigh.

[sarge43]

9. Lawrence of Arabia

When Lawrence starts wearing the robes of a Bedouin sheik, he's no longer just another hoo-hum luftenant, but becomes someone out of legend.

[Captain Hilts]

79. Remember Mad magazine's take on that scene with Lawrence singing "I Feel Pretty?"

Yes, it IS a great moment:

[sarge43]

80. I do.

Mad mag taught us first wave baby boomers how to snark.

[HamdenRice]

10. Pan's Labyrinth

Not only because of the amazing costumes, but the way the actors/mimes used them. The Fawn was played by a master mime/puppeteer. The "costume" is part costume, part puppet which the actor manipulated while is the front of the costume. The rest of his body was blackout out in post production. That allowed the Fawn to have an otherworldy, unbalanced gait, and made him one of the most eerie creatures ever created for cinema, only outdone by the monster with eyes in his hands in the same film:

[anneboleyn]

49. I think del Toro is the best fantasy director right now and perfect for The Hobbit.

We thought Pan's Labyrinth was one of the best fantasy films ever made and the imagination that went into those costumes -- very impressive work by a very talented team, lead by a gifted director.

[tigereye]

120. Pan's Labyrinth is one of the most visually arresting films I have ever seen -

other than Satyricon.

[blogslut]

11. I shall give some love to Dick Shawn in "The Producers"

The Campbell's soup can around his neck is brill.

[Glorfindel]

12. Hugo Weaving's costume in "V for Vendetta"

[HopeHoops]

13. Jackie Chan in the big blue foam dolphin costume.

I think the movie was called "First Strike".

[Orrex]

14. Oh, wait a minute. That's her right elbow.

[Brother Buzz]

17. I was scratching my head, too

My mind was standing next to the curb looking at a '55 DeVille and dreaming of Dagmar. You know what I mean, Vern?

[anneboleyn]

29. Oh my goodness -- I will post the first pic. Keira is not that well-endowed!

[keroro gunsou]

107. that's her elbow.

eol.

[Orrex]

15. If Dr. Strange were here, he'd nominate Matilda May in Lifeforce.

[petronius]

55. Indeed, that was an inspirational costume

[Dr. Strange]

91. Or Natasha Henstridge from Species.

He's so predictable.

[Ivan Sputnik]

16. Liz "Cleopatra" Taylor in solid gold duds

[Tuesday Afternoon]

18. 3 iconic outfits

[Demoiselle]

22. Nah, 3 iconic bodies. nt

[sarge43]

25. This is the iconic outfit

[Tuesday Afternoon]

26. Holly Golightly in the LIttle Black Dress eating Breakfast At Tiffanys

of course

[sarge43]

30. Then there's the not so little Black Dress icon.

Rita Hayworth, Gilda

[anneboleyn]

87. That black dress and the way Hayworth wears it = Byron's poem "She walks in beauty like the night"

brought to life --

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

[madmax]

31. I look like that

on weekends. NOT

[anneboleyn]

51. And I never noticed Marilyn's shoes before! Love the strappy sandals...

[Bucky]

100. I think that first one isn't MM, but an impersonator

Which of course only underscores the "iconic" bit

[Jade Fox]

125. I'm sure those were not the shoes MM wore.......nt

[Deja Q]

19. k

[blondeatlast]

21. Carol Burnett in Bob Mackie's "Went With the Wind"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6bOpJ5elW8

I love movie costume--and this is the creme de la creme.

[Orsino]

75. Still the funniest line ever on television:

"Thank you. I saw it in the window and couldn't resist it."

[Bertha Venation]

76. + 1

[RubyDuby in GA]

119. Exactly! It's the first thing I thought of too.

[Iggo]

23. First thing that came to mind was...

...the trench coat getup from The Matrix.

[sarge43]

24. Grace Kelly, Rear Window

Edith Head could make a fire plug look elegant.

With Kelly to work with, drop dead 50's glam.

[omega minimo]

32. Good call

[anneboleyn]

35. Everything she wore in that film was gorgeous -- and of course, she wore the clothing so gracefully.

[sarge43]

43. This timeless classic.

She moved like a swan in that dress

[redwitch]

50. Everything she wore in that film was breathtaking!

I love Rear Window, great film. And her clothing and jewelry are so amazing it's like an entire subplot.

[omega minimo]

33. Is she anorexic?

[anneboleyn]

34. Knightley is very thin. She has been asked the question before, always says "No" but one wonders

as she is extremely thin. I would have loved to see this dress on say Kate Winslet -- or another actress with some serious curves -- as I think it would have been gorgeous.

[omega minimo]

36. It is a gorgeous gown

[anneboleyn]

41. Thanks. I love the design -- I am a fan of 1930s clothing styles and this dress was a celebration

of the beautiful lines of that time period.

[omega minimo]

44. I love that era too. The simple detail on the gown, the drapery. Subtle.

[Patiod]

82. I got cast in a show because of a dress like that

A local theater was doing "Hay Fever", and the director had already designed an amazing black dress for Myra (which is a really nice juicy part), and was casting based on who was going to look good in the dress!

Another girl read MUCH better for Myra than I did, but she was 5' and I am 5'11", so he cast me. First and ONLY time my height HELPED me get a part (usually lost out to shorter girls).

The dress was modest in the front, bt cut in the back all the way down to just above my tailbone, and I have never gotten more positive attention for a piece of clothing in my life. Men in the audience actually whistled at me!

I tried to steal it, but the director was waiting for me to hend it over immediately after the last curtain call. Damn!

[anneboleyn]

89. Oooh, I love your story. That gown sounds wonderful. I have never worn a backless gown

and now in my mid thirties I don't think I'd be brave enough to try -- but they can be such scene stealers, as you discovered! WOLF WHISTLES from the audience! Clothing always looks its best on tall women, like models. The dresses cut low in the back are an imaginative way to reveal one of a woman's best features, particularly the curve of her lower back.

Congrats on landing the part! I love seeing plays at our local theaters. If you want to, you should post a pic for us of you in full dress for the performance as I would love to see the dress. But don't worry about not posting it (I know it's the internet and all that! I'm not really comfortable posting pics of myself)

[Patiod]

106. I wish I HAD pictures

It was an amazing dress, but one of the other actors in the show broke up with me shortly afterward, and so I probably pitched all the cast photos I had.

You're right about backless revealing features that are attractive, but not over-exposed, like the curve of the lower back.

I was also younger and thinner back then - it was about 20 years ago.....

If you ever get a chance to see Hay Fever, it's very cute if you like Noel Coward.

[unpossibles]

109. thin, but not everyone who is thin is anorexic

I know I got sick of people saying that to me when I was skinny. Ironically some of the same people who used to call me fat when I was heavier, but I digress....

[Orrex]

110. It kills me when people react to pics of thin but healthy actresses by saying "give her a sandwich"

[unpossibles]

114. Especially someone like Knightly who has always been thin in every picture I've seen of her

It's apparently her body type, but regardless it's none of our business and downright rude to make snarky comments about people's weight either way.

I do think it's sad when people who look completely healthy get überskinny, such as Amy Winehouse, Lindsay Lohan, Christina Ricci, etc. Granted, two of those three examples may have more to do with drugs than societal pressure, but I do wish our society had a more positive and realistic view of the human body in all of its variety.

That said, we also have a rather unhealthy culture in other ways, from our obsession with fast food and driving everywhere. Ugh. It's such a complicated issue: I think we need to be more accepting of our own and others' alleged 'flaws' but I also believe in trying to at least be active and eat well, but not just so that we look like so-called super models.

Have you seen this?
http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/2...

[Withywindle]

121. I think Amy Winehouse and Lindsey Lohan are obviously unhealthy.

For obvious reasons (drugs more than EDs, but the wasting effects can be similar), but the weight isn't the most obvious visual marker - look at their SKIN. Scary! Even healthy 60-year-old women's skin doesn't look lifeless like that!

Keira Knightly, no. It's her body type. I know lots of women built like that. My mother, for one. KK (like my mom) has good skin, bright eyes, healthy hair, energy and athleticism. I don't think there's anything wrong with her. Ectomorphs exist. I'm one - not as skinny as my mom, but still in the general category--small-boned, long-limbed, high metabolism. I don't "have" anything to make me this way except skinny parents!

[Broken_Hero]

37. My wife says Predator

whichever stuntman put it on, the costume was pretty realistic.

I can't think of any better than the Tim Curry/Legend costume mentioned up thread.

[targetpractice]

45. Almost every cosutume in David Lynch's Dune...

[carlyhippy]

46. all the Joan Crawford gowns in Mommie Dearest

beautiful dresses, and the heels worn by Dunaway in the movie are beautiful, pretty clothing in that era.

Another favorite are the gowns worn by Ava Gardner (kate beckinsale) in The Aviator

[anneboleyn]

47. And a picture of the beautiful 1930s actress Myrna Loy (The Thin Man series)

She was a brilliant actress and especially wonderful in the Thin Man series (such witty repartee!). She wore a series of iconic ensembles, but here is a lovely image of her in a 1930s backless silk gown not unlike Knightley's:

[Skittles]

52. this one

[anneboleyn]

54. Now there are two Tim Curry votes on this thread! He has some serious mojo. Dr. Frank N. Furter --

It doesn't get better than his entrance scene in Rocky Horror, "annnnnnntici -- say it, say it! -- Pation!"

[Aristus]

57. Whatever happened to Fay Wray?

That delicate, satin-draped frame? As it clung to her thigh, how I started to cry, 'cause I wanted to be dressed just the same...

[Flaxbee]

72. I met her in the late 1990s...

She died in 2004; she was a good friend of a good friend of mine... lovely, tiny woman. Dressed to the nines. Her birthday was a day after my friend's; they always went someplace lovely for a birthday lunch.

[anneboleyn]

95. Cool story! Did she live in C.A. still?

[Forkboy]

102. I liked him in this costume more...

[WinkyDink]

118. FTW!!

[TokenQueer]

58. The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Oscar liked them too.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_uv2NTdTlw&feature=rela...

[wickerwoman]

68. I love their pod feet

when they sing "I Will Survive" in the desert too.

[TokenQueer]

70. Yep...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DJC-ECU8IE

[coffeenap]

78. Just saw the new musical version in London--

INCREDIBLE!!!!

[TokenQueer]

81. Sweet. It's about time.

I've always thought that material lent itself to the stage so naturally. Who wrote the book and the score?

[Enrique]

59. Henry Fonda's bad guy outfit in "Once Upon a Time in the West"

[Strong Atheist]

62. Nothing...

[anneboleyn]

64. Hah! Great point. A vote for birthday suits!

[Strong Atheist]

65. I believe the world should be clothing

optional...

[jobycom]

73. Seen any Ernest Borgnine films lately? nt

[Strong Atheist]

83. Everyone would look better naked... nt.

[jobycom]

84. I have trouble agreeing with that. nt

[Strong Atheist]

115. Well, I do not think the human body is ugly and/or evil... nt.

[anneboleyn]

88. This may be inhumane of me, but I have a thing about Ernest Borgnine. He irritates me

I can't tolerate his films and his sheer doofusness (a term that should be officially coined) for more than five minutes. Very shallow, I realize...

[jobycom]

90. Nah, everyone grates someone wrong. I can't stand Glenn Close, for no good reason.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

67. Peter Fonda's leather jacket in Easy Rider.

What a SEXGOD!!

[opiate69]

69. ... Jesus!

[anneboleyn]

94. Brilliant film and the best suit ever donned by man or woman.

[opiate69]

111. without question. :) of course, it wouldn't work if it was any other color

[fNord]

71. Doug Bradley as Pinhead........

The bondage straps, the long leather dress, and lets not forget, the pins!

[enigmatic]

74. James Dean- "Rebel Without A Cause"

I've got one of those red windbreakers just because Dean wore it in "Rebel":

[brendan120678]

77. How about the clothes that...

Fräulein Maria made for the von Trapp children out of her curtains?
I'd love to have some clothes made out of draperies.
Heavy, dank, drab draperies. That would be the epitome of fashion.

[anneboleyn]

92. Ah yes, and wouldn't you feel compelled to sing once dressed in draperies?

Lovely tunes about the national flower of Austria and kittens' whiskers?

Scarlett O'Hara had a dress made from curtains as well -- so it was popular back in those halcyon days of yore.

[tigereye]

86. I don't know if graphics or animation count, but the character with the

hand/eyes in Pan's Labyrinth would get my vote.

[anneboleyn]

93. Two votes so far for this marvelous looking creature! (see earlier on the thread -- Pan's Labyrinth)

[Bucky]

96. It's a ten way tie involving all the secondary characters from the 1970s Flash Gordon movie

The Flash Gordon costume itself was a work of shit, but all the back up actors looked disco-awesome.

[brettdale]

97. Darth Vader

Hes one cool mother f**ker.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

101. Well, let's see, there's Blondie from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Indy:



The Beast from La Belle et la Bete



Brigitte Helm in Metropolis:



Maggie Hamilton:

[Forkboy]

103. This one...

[Deja Q]

104. Wow. That actor's got more rubber on than Ron Jeremy...

[Forkboy]

105. I don't think he ever wore any.

Not that I'd know about such perversions.....

[nytemare]

108. Tilda Swinton as Gabriel in "Constantine"

Had a bit of badass to it.

[Withywindle]

112. I think a lot of us are showing our generational markers here.

I'm casting my vote for Darth Vader, because I turned 8 in the summer of '77, and HOLEEE FUCKING SHIT I've never seen anything that impacted me like that before or since.

But here are a few I can't believe no one's nominated yet.

[CBHagman]

113. Well, since you're going to be that way about it...

...The Lion in Winter, though unfortunately this still is not in color!



More Hepburn, different year and different male co-star (That's Cary Grant with her in Bringing Up Baby, Kinder.



And of course this thread needs more Alan Rickman. Here he is with Kate Winslet in Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility.



And I know you said movies, but the very thought of men in top boots and period garb brings me to Philip Glenister in the BBC series Cranford. Here he is with Imelda Staunton, who has worn her own share of period clothing.

[Withywindle]

123. More Alan Rickman is always welcome.

And this is a pretty splendid and iconic costume --talk about the essence of a character, and one who will definitely be remembered decades from now:

[TrogL]

116. The black Batman suit

[crim son]

117. Kiera Knightly looks perfect in anything.

But what about this?

[Withywindle]

122. OY!

That is, indeed, iconic and unforgettable.

[crim son]

132. I know I can't forget it.

Seriously.

[Jade Fox]

124. A couple of choices.....

This suit worn by Rosalind Russell in "His Girl Friday" (best picture of it I could find)



Also: Barbra Streisand's fab 60s duds in "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" (Also not a good picture).


On edit: Joseph Fiennes blue leather jacket in "Shakespeare In Love"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2XVFcfEhAk

[_dynamicdems]

126. YUL.

[Jade Fox]

127. Wonderful.....

I love the whole Egyptian motif......

[_dynamicdems]

130. Me too.

And he sure could carry it off.

[Avalux]

128. I'll get you my pretty!

When the Wicked Witch of the West shows up for the first time right after Dorothy lands in Oz...the contrast of the smoke, her black flowing robes and green skin to the technicolor scenery - what an impact. Even thought it terrified me as a child I couldn't wait until she appeared on screen. Still love it.

[kwassa]

129. Carmen Miranda

[EndersDame]

133. From The 5th Element the Diva Plava Laguna

The costumes were great in this movie