The costume vault

A few days ago I happened to be looking through the immense collection of dresses in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's web site and I crossed paths with two beautiful dresses, both belonging to the well-known House of Worth. And I just thought that they deserved a post of their own. House of Worth is a French house of high fashion that specialized in Haute Couture, ready-to-wear clothes and perfumes. It was created around 1858 by Charles Frederick Worth and it continued to operate under the direction of his sons (and their sons in turn) until 1956 when it finally closed. The House of Worth brand was revived in 1999. When it first opened as a dressmaking shop, in 1858, it was soon recognized by royalty and became a great success, gaining a huge reputation. At his shop, Charles Frederick Worth would show his creations on live models, and the clients would choose and order what they liked. This method is actually the origin of Haute Couture. Both then and now, Worth’s gowns ar...

Let’s continue with the thorough examination of the designs of Padme Amidala’s dresses. This second post in the series will be dedicated to the also terribly famous “senate” gown from “The Phantom Menace”. She wears this dress during her plea at the senate in Coruscant, and it has grown to become a terribly well-known gown. This gown has several layers to it. The base layer is a bright orange silk dress, with a high collar decorated with ornate gold stitchwork and beads. Over this, she wears a dark red overdress with orange hems decorated with gold brocade. This overdress has big sleeves and its embroider with rosettes. Above this, she wears a dark and thick faux fur cloak with shoulder pads that make her look twice her size. Although what really made this dress iconic, is the headdress that accompanied it. Amidala's hair was dressed in a wide arc centered by a golden headpiece with golden hairbands to keep her hair's shape. This arc was decorated with dangling ...