The Most Iconic Movie Dresses of All Time

It’s missing my favorite - Glinda the Good Witch

Both dresses in the OP are great.

I'd put in a vote for Bette Davis' gown in All About Eve - the one that she wears to her cocktail party. Not a show-stopper, but flawless for her look and build. Evidently it was a copper-brown color as true black would have looked too solid on film.

I think the dress Joan Fontaine wears to the party in Rebecca is also masterful, although it is not intended to flatter the character in context.

If animated films count, Cruella DeVil's ensemble is notable for being modeled after an actual fur associated with the last Russian Imperial court. The animator for the character had a replica made and acted out Cruella's movements on film and before mirrors to get the sweep of the lines correct. Coats were evidently weighted with small globes of copper ballast, so they had a shape but stayed close to the wearer in windy weather. Evidently at the time the film was made Cruella's coat would have worth a cool quarter million (assuming it was the antique garment).

Gilda

Once again the definition of iconic is stretched to the unrecognizable.

Whole series on famous movie dresses by fashion historian. Includes analysis of the above nominees.

Whoever put that list at HB knows shit about iconic movie dresses.

In order to be on that list, the dress would have to immediately recognized by itself and not in a photo from the movie itself. Using that criteria, most of those shown in the OP's list do not fit the bill.

Those given that do rightly belong on the list are

Marilyn's pink dress and well as her white dress.

Scarlett O'Hara's green dress.

Pretty Woman red dress

Perhaps Titanic dress

Maria's habit from Sound of Music

My Fair Lady dress

Taylor's dress from A Place in the Sun

Gilda, of course

Ilsa's dress suit from Casablanca

I agree with the above poster who mention's Bette Davis's dress from All About Eve

Gilda!

What are Sarah Jessica Parker's duds doing here? Twice!

They're tailored outfits rather than dresses but Lauren Bacall's little number in To Have and Have Not and Tippi Hedren's elegant green outfit in The Birds have always struck me as being the very height of film-making taste.

And those girls wore the shit out of them.

I'd add Grace Kelly's blue evening gown as well as the skirt and sweater outfit from the car ride scene from "To Catch A Thief". Not the white dress they included.

Marilyn's majenta dress from "Niagara".

Dorothy's pinafore and the good witch's dress from "The Wizard of Oz".

The "Shall We Dance" dress that Deborah Kerr wore in "The King and I".

There were several icon dresses in “The Women.”

Any list that leaves oit La Dunaway's frock from "The Towering Inferno" is immediately suspect.

R12, I thought about mentioning that! I remember Pauline Kael's great throwaway line about "Faye Dunaway wanders through the carnage looking vaguely goddess-y in see-through puce chiffon" (quoting from memory) and it's true that that gown really was perfect for both her beauty and the style of the film (which was in so many other ways a complete piece of shit).

Diane Keaton basically invented androgynous dressing style in Annie Hall. She redefined what fashion was about. How could she not be there but fucking SJP be there ? That too TWICE !

Joan Crawford’s dress in Letty Lynton started a world wide craze. It’s forgotten because the film is in black and white and has been out of circulation since retired from the films original release.

Whoever composed that list is brain-damaged.

My favourite Marilyn Monroe dress is the white number in The Prince And The Showgirl.

"THE" little black dress, forever chic and never out of style!

R10 The fact that Dorothy’s pinafore isn’t on the HB list is rather shocking.

What about Carrie's prom dress? That dress was pretty iconic. You could see her dirty pillows.

I love that they included Vivian Leigh in her iconic dress from "Gone With The Wind". It's not any woman who can pull off a look like that... Well, almost...

Cosmo has their own version...

OP, Red, I might have known it would be red.

The wedding dress from The Graduate.

Keira Knightley's green dress in Atonement

Marilyn Monroe's white dress in The Seven Year Itch.

Rosemary Clooney dress from White Christmas

More importantly, which ones do you eldergays have replicas of in your closets?

Rose McGowan at the VMAs.

Another one that's missing is Divine's red dress in Pink Flamingos.

R14 because it’s about iconic dresses, not turtlenecks!

R25, Thank you. One of the most iconic movie dresses of the 2000s, if not the most iconic of that decade.

Also, one from the 1980s ...

... Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys ...

Of Scarlett O’Hara’s dresses, I much preferred the white/green one at the beginning of the movie.

R22, that Cosmo link was a mixed bag. It had some weird choices like Britney Spears in Crossroads and Julia Roberts in Runaway Bride. Claire Daines in Stardust? Oprah in Lee Daniels' The Butler? Isla Fisher ... in anything? Thandiwe Newton in the Chronicles of Riddick? Emilia Clarke? It has Beauty and the Beast, but the live version, not the original animated feature which originated it. They went with Carey Mulligan in The Great Gatsby, but not Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge!?

I do like how they selected Princess Leia in Star Wars, though. That is iconic and never occurred to me. Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct's interrogation scene was another out-of-the-box choice that makes a lot of sense. So did Jessica Rabbit and the Mean Girls in the sexy Santa costumes. I like that they went with 90s icons like Romy & Michele, and Muriel.

I thought Scarlett’s red dress was the most significant to a scene in the movie. She was caught hugging Ashley by Melanie’s sister, and didn’t want to go to his birthday party. Rhett forced her to go, and he insisted she wear this red dress.

Maybe Cher in Moonstruck doesn't count. We don't remember the dress so much, but the whole movie builds up to her transformation to rediscovering her beauty in her middle-age (with the hair, the makeup, the jacket and the show-stopping moment when she arrives at the Met). Probably not iconic, but I like they way it was handled in the film.

But, there definitely was this little black Ann Roth number Melanie Griffith slipped into for Working Girl when she had some tequila after an antihistamine and delivered the line, "I've got a mind for business, and a bod for sin."

Ann Roth also dressed Nathan Lane for his Barbara Bush imitation during the dinner scene of The Birdcage.

Because it’s an actual plot point and it’s transformation transforms the character Jamie Lee Curtis’ dress in True Lies really deserves icon status.

Holly Hunter's polka dot dress in Broadcast News.

I think we can all be grateful that Molly’s dress in Pretty in Pink didn’t make it on to the list.

Excellent choice R37. Also, one of the best performances of that year. Nice call R38. There's also Glenn Close as Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction's finale (the white number that shows off the blood once she's finally shot and killed).

Back to that Cosmo link, they seemed to pick a lot of random choices, including many dresses worn by black actresses in particular. What's strange to me is that they missed one of the most iconic movie dresses worn by a black actress ever: Whoopi Goldberg as Oda Mae Brown in Ghost when she goes to withdraw the money. That was a big fail on Cosmo's part.

Because of how she wears clothes in movies there should be one from Tilda Swinton among those 41. Period gowns are a bit of a cheat, but this one from Orlando seems to be the one that’s most celebrated, and in the plot she starts frantically running through a garden maze in this as she transforms so it comes in a moment of heighten emotion and intensity.

When we first see Annette Bening in American Beauty, she's clipping roses whilst made up and bejewelled, wearing a garden apron and gloves over her business suit dress.

After she comes home in a later scene, she's just wearing a matching slinky grey dress that could have been hiding underneath. But, as sexy as she looks, during a less inhibited moment, she's too worried about her husband soiling their couch. For him, she only sees herself as the breadwinner of the family and domestic servant.

But, that apron over the business suit dress is kind of iconic. I had never seen anything like that in movies before and it immediately defined her type-A character, which kind of fits the definition of iconic.

R38 yes great choice. It was a Victor Costa.

R39 I think Andie’s dress might deserve to be on the list because of how it impacted the movie climax. All of us at a certain age all remember the stark disappointment we felt at the reveal of the dress; especially given the raw material Andie had to work with.

I think one of these may have already been mentioned, but the following Disney Animation dresses should be included: Belle - Beauty and the Beast; Snow White; Cinderella’s ball gown; Ilsa - Frozen.

Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell’s red gowns from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Ginger Rogers’ feathered gown from Swing Time

Shirley Temple’s red and white polka dot dress from Stand up and Cheer

I love watching Marie Antoinette with Kirsen Dunst and Jamie Dornan just for the costumes

I love the flip-flops dress from PRISCILLA.

R28: I have a copy of Margot Channing's cocktail party dress, but I made it in black.

In 1987 I made a copy of Liz Taylor's A PLACE IN THE SUN dress (white one with violets) for my sister to wear to prom. I make costumes for films now, though I am no Adrian.

You ain't no me either!

Julia Roberts polka dot dress at the polo match in Pretty Woman.

No mention of Eiko’s genius??

Any list that excludes Sharon Stone’s looks in Basic Instinct or Casino is just dumb.

Sounds more like peoples’ favorite movie dresses than iconic.

Hollywood adjacent, the Gold dress at the oscars made entirely of Amex cards. It was the designer of the flip-flop dress.

I think Gone with the Wind had four iconic dresses... the curtains dress being the most famous, but the white dress from the first scene, the green and white dress from the BBQ and the red velvet dress from Ashley's birthday are all instantly recognizable.

Soon I'll make this little number the greatest costume of them all! Because I just know we're getting closer to filming with each passing day! And month. And year...

What about meeee?...

[quote] Ilsa's dress suit from Casablanca

r6, while I would hesitate to say it's "iconic" (although I'm open to persuasion), I deeply appreciate you referring to that white dress suit designed by the great Orry-Kelly. Ilsa Lund is wearing it the first night she enters Rick's Cafe Americain.

It's, by far, my all-time favorite garment worn be a leading female actor.

I'll never know how to define what distinguishes subtle, simple, yet stunning elegance from boring, but, I know it when I see it.

Anita in La Dolce Vita.

can't forget the pink on from GPBs...

I am fairly certain the Holly Golightly black party ensemble with the gloves, tiara, and cigarette holder would be recognizable even on a mannequin and not in a still from BAT.

From article:

[quote] who can forget the stunner made from Tara's curtains? Her emerald-green velvet dressing gown is one of the most striking ensembles in the film.

Excuse me, but this. is. SACRILEGE!

“What you up to with Miss Ellen's portieres?"

I can't believe I'm the first to mention Orry-Kelly's sheer beaded gown for Marilyn Monroe in SOME LIKE IT HOT.

Also, Orry-Kelly's "red" gown for Bette Davis in JEZEBEL.

And Bernard Newman's heavily beaded gown for Ginger Rogers in FOLLOW THE FLEET, dancing with Fred to "Let's Face the Music and Dance."

And Irene Sharaff's lavender fringed dance dress for Rita Moreno as Anita in WEST SIDE STORY.

And perhaps Edith Head's white summer gown for Olivia de Havilland at the end of THE HEIRESS.

But I really can't believe how rarely the COSTUME DESIGNER's NAME was credited in these lists as if the actresses pulled these outfits from their own closets.

Liz Taylor's gown in A Place in the Sun

Literally millions of replicas were bought by high school girls off to their prom.

Audrey's Little Black Dress in Sabrina (Head to the credit but it was Givenchy's creation)

A bit farther back in time, but the stunning gown worn by Moira Shearer in "The Red Shoes" as she head up to the villa on the Riviera to hear that she got the role.

The photo doesn't remotely do justice the colour of the dress on film. My God, with her natural red hair and alabaster skin . . .

Costume designer: Hein Heckroth. He was also responsible for the art direction of the 1948 film, for which he won an Oscar.

I love how they make Jamie Lee Curtis' spontaneous dress alterations part of the plot.

And she looks great with the slicked back hair.

[quote] Ginger Rogers’ feathered gown from Swing Time

That dress was from "Top Hat".

Extra points for any poster who credits the Costume Designer.

R35- I thought the one made out of Miz Ellen's po'teers was even more iconic.

Love.

"While reading a posting in this thread, my neighbor just pounded on the wall and shouted, "hey, can you turn down the Gay?"

Oop. You are right r68! Thanks for the correction.

Just about any dress Glenn Close wore in "Dangerous Liaisons."

Dolly Parton's glitzy orange number in "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."

My all time fave? Audrey Hepburn's beautiful embroidered(?) farthingale-ish dress in "Sabrina." She uses her hands to steady the dress as she so elegantly ascends the terrace steps. A lovely, understated scene which shows off that stunner of a dress.

I was happy to see Tilda Swinton's Narnia dress included in the Cosmo list. R41 beat me to posting her Orlando dress. She has so many iconic dresses, though, from Hail, Caesar, Grand Budapest Hotel, and Suspiria. However, I first saw her in Derek Jarman's Edward II.

Little known fact, her Narnia dress started as white in the beginning of the film and grew gradually darker as she lost her grip on power. That was her idea.

Thank you for posting about Dracula, r50, and I definitely vote for Lucy's wedding dress. Go to 1:15 of this clip. This is how I walk down every flight of stairs.

Finally, I feel like it's a crime to to have Gong Li on this list. If you haven't seen Curse of the Golden Flower, SEE IT!!!!

* not to have

On its way to being iconic.

r79 That would look exquisite on an eldergay.

He wouldn't have to bend far to present hole!

Hell, Judy wore at least three iconic costumes herself:

Dorothy, of course.

The tuxedo number from "Get Happy"

The blue dress with the black and white bow for "The Man That Got Away"

And because we are talking about movie costumes, I'd nominate the "Good Morning" dress and the cake dancer outfits both worn by Debbie Reynolds in "Singing in the Rain".

Plus Princess Leia's white gown from the original "Star Wars".

Marlene Dietrich in a dazzling gown by Travis Banton for “Angel” (1937). This gown was trimmed in sable fur and featured an intricate pattern of beading which literally covered every square inch of the chiffon it was embroidered onto. Thousands of hours of workmanship were applied to this one costume, seen for less than ten minutes on screen. That was the extravagance of Old Hollywood.

Not iconic in the true sense of the word, but certainly magnificent.

No one has mentioned Madonna's dresses from Dick Tracy?! The black sequined one, the low-cut black velvet one with her jugs hanging out, or the final performance silver one, which is my favorite.

This dress was copied in every mall (and soap opera) for years and years.

Not quite a dress, but there is something iconic about Raquel Welch's outfit from Myra Breckinridge.

R83

the whole wadrobe was fab

Irene Sharaff deserves an honoree mention for the two gold numbers she provided for Liz and Babs.

The ladies entrances in Cleopatra and Dolly in those Designs remain classic.

Coked to the gills but Iconic

[Quote]But, there definitely was this little black Ann Roth number Melanie Griffith slipped into for Working Girl when she had some tequila after an antihistamine and delivered the line, "I've got a mind for business, and a bod for sin."

But it's not even leathah!!

Eva Green was stunning in Casino Royale, even as a gay man I was turned on.

Love the 80s.

Kim Novak’s swirly pink dress in the dance scene from Picnic.

Liz's slip in Butterfield 8 must have influenced Calvin Klein's slip dress fad.