Gorgeous Period Dress / Film

Examples of Gorgeous Period Dress in film.

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Animation

• The 1997 animated film Anastasia makes ample use of this trope.
• Brave:
  • Elinor's dark blue dress is a work of art, and her iconic green dress is just as lovely.
  • Although not as blatant as Elinor, the turquoise dress that Merida is effectively forced into by Elinor is the closest she gets. For most of the film, her dresses of choice tend to be simpler but no less nice.
• Disney Animated Canon:
  • Many of the early Disney films, such as the ball in Cinderella. The live-action remake had colors so vibrant that, for example, Cinderella's dress had to be edited in post to be that blue in the lighting of the movie.
  • And now sort of done with the Disney Princesses themselves, on some of their fancier-themed merchandise.
• The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is set in the Heian period and features the often so-elaborate-it's-ludicrous court garments and fashion of that time. Since Princess Kaguya is the protagonist, there's a particular focus on women's fashion: the 12-layer robe that totally covers the feet and hands, the blackening of teeth, and the shaved and repainted eyebrows.

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Live-Action

• The trope can be dated back to silent films of The Roaring '20s, which use the rather odd-looking two-colour red and green Technicolor. One such film is Phantom of the Opera, which uses colourful costuming in a big ballroom scene.

• American cinema of the 1950s, fearful of losing customers to television, turned to spectacle to bring audiences back. The '50s and The '60s were the peak period for widescreen epic films with eye-searing Technicolor, and naturally, amazing dresses featured prominently: Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, Desiree, The Robe, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and many more.

• The 1943 movie Münchhausen, which was only the third full-length colour feature in the history of German Films, indulges itself in this respect. It contains, among other things, a costumed ball on an 18th-century theme in the present-day framing scenes, a sumptuous state banquet at the court of Catherine the Great, a large sequence at the Ottoman court in Constantinople and a carnival in Venice.
• The Martin Scorsese version of The Age of Innocence, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder. In fact, virtually any movie or show based on a novel by Henry James or Edith Wharton (cf. The Portrait of a Lady, The Europeans, The House of Mirth, The Buccaneers, Daisy Miller, etc.) is guaranteed to make ample use of this trope, seeing that both authors were writing about the upper classes of the late Victorian era.
• All film (as well as TV) versions of Anna Karenina make use of this trope.
• Arsène Lupin (2004) with Kristin Scott-Thomas, seeing that it's about a gentleman thief who moves into Belle Epoque high society, uses this trope extensively.

• In 'Beauty and the Beast', while the story takes place in the early 19th century — complete with empire line gowns and enormous bonnets — the Beast's castle is essentially in a time bubble, meaning Belle gets to wear a lot of beautiful dresses from bygone eras, complete with tightly laced bodices and voluminous skirts.
• The 1935 film Becky Sharp, an adaptation of Thackeray's Vanity Fair and the first-ever full-colour film, popularised this trope.
• Countless Bollywood period movies fall into this. This is particularly true if said movies feature Ms. Aishwaya Rai. Every. Single.◊ Time.◊
• Bram Stoker's Dracula won an Oscar for its costumes, showcasing some splendid 1890s Victorian fashion. Most of Lucy Westenra's wardrobe is rich and elaborate. There is some Hollywood Costuming involved however since Lucy's neckline is a little too low. Mina's bustle dress is not as lavish and it's a few decades out of style, but used to show that a poor schoolmistress can't afford the latest fashions.

• Crimson Peak has Edith in some stunning turn-of-the-century dresses, and even her nightgown looks sumptuous. When it comes to the Sharpes, their clothes are nice but at least twenty years out of date - which is used to show they are Impoverished Patricians. It's implied they're that broke they wear their parents' old clothes.
• Curse of the Golden Flower is this trope in spades. The colors practically strobe they're so brilliant and every character is burdened by layer upon layer of exquisite brocade.

• Darling Lili puts the titular Lili in many fancy ball gowns and formal wear from 1918, befitting of a Femme Fatale Spy. She seems to have a new splendid outfit in each scene.
• Deborah Kerr was heavily typecast in Costume Dramas, so many of her initial roles in Hollywood feature her in this:
  • In The King and I, Anna's stunning pink silk ballgown. However her gloves are quite wrong for the time period - hand waved by Rule of Glamorous.
  • Black Narcissus has a flashback to her upbringing in Ireland, where she dons a Pimped-Out Dress for an evening with her boyfriend - and she's presented with some emerald earrings and a necklace too.
  • The Prisoner of Zenda sees her playing a Princess Flavia, who is seen attending a coronation and several Dances and Balls - requiring many different fancy dresses for each. She at least subverts the Ermine Cape Effect by dressing a little more simply when she's alone with Rudolf.
  • King Solomon's Mines has her wearing quite a fancy Victorian gown at the beginning. But since it's not practical for the African jungle, that's all you get.
  • Young Bess features the most elaborate of Tudor era finery, as she plays the Queen consort Catherine Parr. One of her dresses is a recreation of a gown Catherine wears in the famous portrait that was mistaken for Lady Jane Grey. Kitty Hollywood in her review stated that the costumes themselves were enough of a reason to watch the film.
  • Tea and Sympathy is set in 1947 and gives her a scene where she's wearing a splendid green evening gown in preparation for a school dance she never ends up attending.
  • The Innocents at first shows her in grand crinoline dresses with High-Class Gloves that are perhaps a little too elegant for a working-class governess to afford. As the film goes on, her clothes become more muted to reflect her deteriorating sanity. By the final scene, she's in a plain black dress.

• The Fantastic Beasts series is a Prequel to the Harry Potter films that starts off in The Roaring '20s and will likely end with Dumbledore's defeat of Grindlewald in 1945). Since Harry Potter took place in a school and the present day, its costumes were nothing too much to write home about. Fantastic Beasts has much more ornate costume design than its parent series. It's not just the main characters who were immaculately beautiful period dresses either, the background extras are a Cast of Snowflakes who also all wear gorgeous clothes. The first film's Oscar for Best Costume Design was the entire franchise's first Oscar, nine movies in.
• The 2018 film The Favourite dresses its three female leads in lush early 18th Century costumes and surrounds them with a bevy of men in even more sumptuous dress. The characters played by Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz, given they are taking on masculine political roles, sometimes dress in men's attire or women's attire that is styled to look masculine.
• Bizarrely combined with The Dung Ages in Flesh+Blood (1985).

• Japanese film Gate of Hell is a prototypical Technicolor example from The '50s. Lots of ornate 12th-century costumes. Won an Oscar for costume design.
• Gone with the Wind, also released in 1939, is in some places a validation, in others an aversion of this trope; Scarlett dresses sumptuously in many scenes (the famous green dress she made from lace curtains, or the equally famous scarlet gown) but very much in a down-at-the-heels manner in the postwar scenes where she's struggling to save Tara.
• Gigi, starring Maurice Chevalier and Leslie Caron, is positively stuffed with Edwardian Gorgeous Period Dresses.
• Gladiator: Historical accuracy aside, the outfits and armors Emperor Commodus wears are all examples of this trope
  • The blue armor◊ he wears in the Battle of Carthage, complete with a cape, with golden figurines on the leather breastplate and equally golden trimmings on the groin protections and shoulder plates.
  • This dark purple regal outfit◊ with angel sleeves with golden embroideries and trimmings. Of special notice is the intricate pattern on the waistline.
  • This red tunic◊ with golden ornamentation below the neckline and a blue toga (also with golden embroideries) draped over it. Crowned with a metal laurel wreath. Oh, and there are also golden trims on his Caliga boots.
  • His leather, brown armor◊ with, yes, you guessed! More golden stuff — figurines on his boots, the fastenings on his shoulder pads, the embroidery on his white, short cape and tunic, and a gold pendant.
  • Against all common sense, not all of Commodus's outfits sport gold for their ornaments. There's this purple armor◊ with silver motifs all over it. He's still wearing his gold laurel wreath, though.
  • The black armor◊ he wears in the Battle of Tigris is laced with subtle silver for the most part (figurines and trims) and gold in the accessories such as cords and chains.
  • His glorious, Light Is Not Good white armor◊. This one takes the cake because, while sporting the same ornaments as its predecessors, it looks as if it was sculpted on marble, making Commodus look like the statue of a mythological character that came to life.

• Many Hammer Horror films.
  • The Curse of Frankenstein and The Man Who Could Cheat Death, starring legendary (in the genre) redheaded beauty Hazel Court, are excellent examples.

• Many a Jidaigeki film displays the Japanese equivalent (though there are usually some, especially townspeople, wearing everyday clothes as well).

• A Little Princess uses this to show off how wealthy Sara Crewe is. She arrives at the school wearing a splendid white coat and hat, and even the school uniform is quite elegant. Then when she loses all her wealth, she's reduced to wearing a simple black dress as she works as a servant.

• Mandalay: At the "Jardin d'Orient" nightclub, Tanya wears a stunning golden dress◊ with matching jewelry and a white, fur boas.

• Moulin Rouge! tries its very best to make your eyes bleed with colour… especially during the Can Can scene in the beginning of the film.
• Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971) features many scenes of men in evening wear and women in glorious La Belle Époque evening gowns.

• Onmyōji (2001) is set in the Heian period, and accordingly, most of the female characters are seen in many layers of robes in different colors, though the men tend to be more drably dressed. However, the standouts are Seimei and his shikigami like Mitsumushi, who are always wearing beautiful, brightly colored clothes.
• The film version of Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography, starring Tilda Swinton in very pretty clothes.

• Plunkett & Macleane for the most part averts this showing a more realistic and gritty costume approach, especially with lower classes. However, it plays it straight during one scene during a huge ballroom dance among the very rich, fitting the trope nicely. It's pretty much a costume designer's wet dream.
• Pirates of the Caribbean:
  • Since the movies revolve around pirates, there isn't much of this flavor, but if you pay attention, the movies include a surprisingly great amount of Pimped-Out Dress. Elizabeth is guilty of this in the first two movies, before she Took a Level in Badass. And while we're on the subject, Norrington's uniform got pimped when he got promoted to admiral between the second and third movies.
  • A bit more of this in the fourth film, which includes some scenes of British and Spanish court officials and dress-uniformed officers.
• Pride & Prejudice (2005) is (sometimes) a subversion of this trope. In the big ballroom scene, Gorgeous Period Dress rules, but otherwise, the lead characters all dress relatively simply, if appropriately for reasonably well-to-do people (the Bennets) or wealthy (Darcy).
• The 1939 Warner Brothers film The Private Lives Of Elizabeth And Essex reveled in the opportunity to show the splendid court dress of Elizabeth I. (Bette Davis) in Technicolor.

• The characters in 1963's The Raven wear somewhat lavish garments that all seem to be from different periods and regions.
• All over the place in the Renaissance setting of La Reine Margot.

• Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: The film features a feast of traditional Hutsul folk costumes. Various festivals, weddings, and funerals put their ceremonial garb on display, with rich furs and elaborate colors.
• Sherlock: Case of Evil includes several scenes set at high society balls seemingly for no other reason than to allow both women and men (including a fine-looking Sherlock Holmes played by James D'Arcy) to be seen in magnificent period outfits.
• The 1947 René Clair movie Le silence est d'or (Man About Town), starring Maurice Chevalier, featured late-Victorian-era Gorgeous Period Dress designed by no less a luminary than Christian Dior himself (his New Look, in fact, was in no small part derived from the sumptuous elegance of late Victorian and Edwardian fashion).

• In A Study in Terror, all of Jack the Ripper's victims are dressed in outfits that are far too elegant (and clean) for a real East End prostitute.

• The first-class passengers' clothes in Titanic (1997), contrasted with the third-class's filthier clothes and segregated areas on board the titular ship.

• William Shakespeare film adaptations
  • Henry V, directed by Kenneth Branagh, is famous for taking the story and laying on the mud and gore real thick on the period costuming to show medieval war in all its filthiness.
  • Laurence Olivier's version of Henry V is an enforced example. It was the first color Shakespeare film, intended as a morale booster during World War II, so the look is heavily modeled on fifteenth-century manuscripts.
  • Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet has everyone dressed in extremely elaborate and colourful 19th-century military uniforms or billowy ball gowns. Most of it was a way to keep the audience's attention for the (endless, uncut!) 4-hour movie, but it also set up a sharp contrast with Hamlet, who spent most of the movie in a black outfit.

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