Wedding dresses. They’re the big ones, the be all and end all — or at least, they should be! — of costumes. Today, yesterday, you name it, it’s all about The Wedding Dress. Inspired by my previous ravings about the wedding dress in The Sound of Music, here are my top 10* historical costume movie wedding dresses.
- I tried to keep it to only five for Top 5 Friday, but I just couldn’t! I also didn’t include The Sound of Music dress, since I already did so much waxing poetic about it.
10. The Borgias (2011-2013)
+5 for being Renaissance
-3 for being high-waisted late 1400s
+5 for a great fabric combination
+2 for the beaded embellishment
+5 for kickass sleeves
+3 for no nip-slip
-5 for marrying a drip
+2 for him being a sweet drip
-5 for having your father-in-law watch the consummation
+3 for great hair
TOTAL POINTS: 12
9. Pride and Prejudice (1995)
+3 for the square neckline
+3 for the layered overdress and underdress
+1 for the semi-interesting fabric
+1 for a sweet bonnet
+5 for Colin Firth
-5 for being a nightgown Regency
+5 for the look on Caroline Bingley’s face
TOTAL POINTS: 13
8. Sense and Sensibility (1995)
+3 for the layered overdress and underdress
+5 for all the gorgeous lace and trim
+5 for Alan Rickman
-5 for not getting to marry Greg Wise
+1 for avoiding Willoughby
-5 for being a nightgown Regency
+10 for making Regency actually interesting
TOTAL POINTS: 14
7. Tristan and Isolde (2006)
+3 for sparkly fabric
+3 for all the embellishments
+1 for the barge
+10 for the amazing headdress
+5 for Rufus Sewell
-3 for James Franco
TOTAL POINTS: 19
6. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994)
+5 for being 18th century
+5 for being a French court style
-1 for randomly wearing a French court style in England
+10 for all that kickass embroidery
+3 for Kenneth Branagh
-1 for Kenneth Branagh’s mullet
-1 for long-term durability
TOTAL POINTS: 20
5. Great Expectations (2012)
+5 for being 18th century
+5 for mad ruching
+5 for all the distressing
-1 for the exposed boning channels
+5 for NOT GETTING OVER IT
+5 for REVENGE BEING A DISH BEST SERVED ANY WAY I WANT TO
TOTAL POINTS: 24
4. Les Misérables (2000)
+3 for being 1830s
+5 for the hammered silk
+2 for lovely lace
+5 for a very pretty headdress/veil combo
+10 for getting the hell out of Daddy’s house
TOTAL POINTS: 25
3. Marie Antoinette (1938)
+5 for being 18th century
+5 for being a court gown
+5 for being super heavy weight satin
+3 for all the beaded appliques
+2 for all the ruches
-5 for having to marry a loser
+1 for the loser being a sweet loser
+10 for getting to be the QUEEN
+5 for a kickass tiara
TOTAL POINTS: 31
2. The Devil’s Whore (2008)
+5 for being 17th century
+5 for heavy weight satin
+10 for that standing lace ruff
+5 for great hair, including the ribbons and pearls
+3 for all those cartridge pleats
+3 for dancing on tables
-3 for marrying a rando
+5 for later shagging Michael Fassbender
+2 for the pearl embellishment
TOTAL POINTS: 35
1. The Young Victoria (2009)
+1 for being 1840s
+30 for being a stunningly perfect recreation of the real wedding dress worn by Queen Victoria
+3 for beautiful lace
+3 for serious jewelry
+1 for sweet orange blossoms
+5 for marrying the guy you love
-3 for that guy being kind of drippy
-3 for a zzzz hairstyle
+3 for that hairstyle being historically accurate
TOTAL POINTS: 42
KENDRA!!! I can’t believe you left off Georgiana’s wedding gown from “The Duchess”!
http://www.costumersguide.com/duchess3.shtml
+10 for being 18th century
+5 for candlelit ceremony
+5 for great hair
-5 for nasty wedding night
-80 million for clompy Keira Knightly
OK, it doesn’t add up, but it’s a pretty dress!
Yeah, but:
– 5 for boring trim
– 5 for crappy sleeve ruffles
– 5 for being ho-hum
It didn’t make my top 10!
Okay, just looked at it again and I retract about boring trim. But it’s still not in my top 10!
So much prettier than snoozefest Young Victoria!
Yeah but YV gets major props for doing a really great repro of a surviving dress.
And Lucy’s wedding gown in “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” — if Miss Havisham counts, then actually getting married in the gown is obviously not a qualification :)
http://www.costumersguide.com/dracula11.shtml
+10 for lizard-frill ruff
+5 for crazy 1890s meets 1920s by way of Klimt
-3 for random sack shape
+10 for baby eating
Okay, THAT one I forgot! Yes! Agreed!
+30 for baby eating??!!
You can never give too many points for baby eating!
Just to note- Ken Branagh’s Frankenstein wasn’t set in England. It was in Switzerland,so a French wedding dress makes more sense.
Duh, how did I forget that? Although someone on FB rightly pointed out that the embroidered court dress ISN’T the same as the wedding dress, which is a francaise! So that changes the point scheme entirely!
Great article! But I’d like your expert opinion on some point regarding wedding dresses pre-Victoria: Aren’t white wedding dresses supposed to be not that popular before Victoria’s wedding? I mean I guess that doesn’t have to mean that they were taboo or extremely rare, but still, older wedding dresses depicted on film and tv so often turn up white/cream/very pale pink/gold/silver or any such colour that would seem conventional in a modern wedding, you’d think this was the standard all the way back to the Romans. So what do you think, shouldn’t this be a concern? A reason to downgrade some of these dresses a couple of points, for example?
Except maybe in Regency, when white/pale/pastels was the approved scheme for dressing unmarried girls and young women in general, and probably influenced Victoria’s choices.
Sounds like someone doesn’t like empire waists! ;)
That’s ok. We all have our own fashion faves and hates. I’m a massive empire waist fan myself, particularly during the Italian Renaissance. So Lucrezia’s dress is my fave!
Absolutely love your blog and this is a great post! In my book, Angelica’s dress in the “The Devil’s Whore” deserves to win bonus points for being the dress our heroine chooses to wear to her own hanging…
Wearing your wedding dress to your hanging?! Damn, that’s hardcore metal!
Oh- the Tristan & Isolde dress was made for Mili Avital in ‘The Arabian Nights’ (I can’t remember the year) originally- which had Rufus Sewell & Dougray Scott in it.