Famous Dresses #3 Keira Knightley in Jacqueline Durran

The partnership of Knightley, Durran and director Joe Wright has led to three beautifully shot, acted and designed films; Pride and Prejudice (2005), Atonement (2007) and Anna Karenina (2012).

That green dress

Jacqueline Durran's Sketch

Created by Durran for Knightley to wear in Atonement, this cut green silk gown is instantly memorable and unusual primarily because of its colour. If you think of all the dresses that feature in films or even on the red carpet, green appears very rarely. I would say that this is because it can be quite a strong colour and is considered to be symbolic of envy/jealousy by some.

As I mentioned before, the dress is very fine silk with a bias cut bodice (this means that the material is cut diagonally). As such, the dress is very floaty and seems to cling to Keira's body. Given the amount of detail in the book regarding the dress and how it should make Cecilia look like a mermaid, the fluidity of the material is paramount.

In fact, the dress was so fine that the material kept tearing. 4 skirts and 10 bodices were created!

There is a laser cut pattern on the top half of the dress, which is barely visible for most of the time. As well as highlighting the fragility of the dress, this feature also furthers the sense of nakedness; that there is only an extremely thin piece of silk, which is already revealing the body beneath through the lasered pattern and v-shaped neckline, to cover Cecilia.


There is a wrap of material around the waist to create more of a floaty feel whilst hiding the stitching that connects the bodice and skirt.


In order to achieve the green, Durran and the director Joe Wright went to a dye specialist in London with swatches of three different shades of green. 100 yards of white fabric was then dyed with all three hues to achieve the end result.









Anna Karenina's Black Ball Gown

Durran's sketch and a still from the film

 Made from 16m of fabric and accessorised with jewellery from Chanel, this black tulle dress is perhaps the most memorable dress from the 2012 film Anna Karenina.

The decision as to whether to stick with a black dress, as prescribed in Tolstoy's book, was broached by Wright, Durran and Knightley. Ultimately, they chose to keep it black and create a contrast through the sour pastel coloured frocks of the other dancers.

To highlight Anna as being separated from society, she wears a black ball gown at her moment of triumph when she gives into temptation with Vronsky; a white dress when she later attends the opera and is humiliated.

Whilst the shape of the skirts are in keeping with the period setting of 19th Century Russia, Durran looked to the 1950s bodices from Dior and Balenciaga for inspiration.

I think this dress is perfect for the scene and for the character; the image below is striking with the contrast of the black and white

Which dress do you prefer? 

x x 

Would You Rather ? - The Hunger Games !!!

I have been quite slow in catching onto the Hunger Games, and at first I wasn't a fan. But its kinda grown on me so I thought I would do a WYR Tag. Some of the questions I found online and some I made up.

1) Would you rather live in the Capitol or in one of the Districts (+ which one) ?

I would rather live in a District than the  Capitol primarily because all the wacky cosmetic surgery would freak me out. District-wise, I would probably say District 2 because they're super strong and powerful. And they have Cato.

2) Would you rather be a tribute in the 74th or the 75th Hunger Games? 

74th for definite! The arena in the 75th is much more scarier with the fog and blood rain. Plus all the tributes are much older, stronger and more experienced so I think I would be a goner in about 10 seconds. But in the 74th HG, hopefully I would stay alive for a bit longer.

3) Which pairing do you ship the most - Peenis, Hayffie, Clato or Fannie?

It really annoys me when people combine people's names like this (Dramione, Hinny etc), its not difficult to say 'Finnick and Annie'! Anyway, I prefer Peeta and Katniss - apart from P's general sweetness, it's interesting cuz its a reversed 'damsel in distress' scenario; he's the one that is often in trouble and Katniss has to go and save him. Plus, they'd make some damn fine toast ;)

4) Would you rather be chased by one mutt dog or by a swarm of tracker jackers?

Oh, just one dog. I think there would be more chance of success at avoiding/killing it than a swarm of tracker jackers.

5) Would you rather have a bow and arrow in the games or a sword?

I have done fencing so i would probably be able to use a sword better than a bow and arrow but I'd rather copy Katniss since I could attack/defend from further away.

6) Who would you rather save - Rue or Peeta?

Peeta. You can't win morally but, although I have nothing against Rue, I'd pick Mr Mellark. The boy with the bread .... <3

7) Would you rather kiss Finnick or Cato?

I'm leaning more towards Cato, although I'm possibly influenced by Alexander Ludwig....I'd rather preserve the Finnick/Annie relationship.

8) Would you rather try and get supplies from the Cornucopia at the start or run into the woods? 

I would rather try and grab something from the Cornucopia in the melee but if I think i wouldn't be able to get away safely then I'd just go for the woods and try and come back later.

9) Would you rather kiss Haymitch for 10 minutes or hold President Snow's hand for 5 minutes?

Gross. I'm going to be a chicken and say neither. Its just too gross to even contemplate.

10) Would you rather be in a rainforest arena or a mountain range arena? 

Rainforest definitely. There would be a lot of  coverage and lots of trees to climb. I have phobia of mountains from the time when I had to ski down one by myself on a school trip. It was my first time skiing and I swear to god i am mentally scared...

11) Would you rather be a tribute in a games where all the other tributes are your friends or be a 12 year old tribute in a games where all the others are 17 year olds?

The latter because I would not kill my friends (and hopefully they wouldn't kill me). Plus, if I was that much younger I could probably hide from them more easily.

13) Josh or Liam?

Josh - no contest !

Ahhh I seriously feel like re-watching Catching Fire now.... while i go hunting for it, I tag you all to do this :) 

x x