Today Doppelganger Dresses features what I think to be Melanie's prettiest costume in GWTW, the blue and white gown she wears to Scarlett and Charles' wedding.
One of the unique features about Melanie's dress is the crisscross pattern of wide ribbons that decorate the hem of the skirt. It turns out that variations of this style were actually common in the early 1860s. With this in mind, we've found two dresses that bear resemblance to Melanie's own. Interestingly, both dresses incorporate pink instead of blue like the movie version.
Check them out after the jump and let us know what you think.
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| Pink and white dress. From Journal des Demoiselles, 1862. |
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| Pink dress. From Revue des Modes et de l'Industrie de Paris, 1862. |
Left: Publicity Still of Melanie's dress from Gone with the Wind. Right: Melanie's dress in doll form. Image from Tonner Dolls.
Two versions of sketches of Melanie's dress, by Walter Plunkett.
This is indeed a beautiful dress! I think the second pink one is the one most like the film version!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to vote for the second dress. The trim matches the film dress more closely. It's great to see the evening wrap too. I know that some people around here aren't big fans of grass embellishment (!) but I'm sure the widow Scarlett would have longed for this dress.
ReplyDeleteIn an interview with Olivia DeHavilland she says how disappointed she was that the dress had to be worn without the hoop, because of the fact there simply wasn't room on the set. She thought it was a shame the skirt just hangs limp. In that scene Scarlett's dress also hangs limp, and it makes me wonder if it was supposed to have a hoop in it too. I'd love to see a doppelganger post on Scarlett/Ellen's wedding dress. I've had a bit of a look at styles from 1844 and I get the idea the dress would've likely had shorter sleeves and be quite off the shoulder. Skirts were much less full in 1844. Also I wonder too about the dress Melanie wore to marry Ashley. Scarlett noted that she glowed into beauty.
OD'H commented that Melanie only got to wear two beautiful costumes in the film, the blue dress and her barbecue dress. I don't agree. I think the blue and grey dress she wears to the surprise party is beautiful, I think the dress she wears the night of the raid is very cute, I love the filmy blue shawl she is wearing when she consoles Rhett and the navy dress with long white lace scarf she wears after Bonnie's death is so elegant.