Yesterday, a holiday bullshit artist! Today, a would-be social butterfly. This is it! T Lo’s favorite Christmas movie dress and Lorenzo’s least favorite Christmas movie (he can’t stand Margaret O’Brien)! In director Vincent Minnelli’s Meet Me in St. Louis, Judy Garland plays Esther, the second-oldest of a quartet of Smith daughters in Saint Louis in 1903. The film follows the family throughout the year, as the oldest daughters each scheme to land a beau and the younger daughters engage in mild psychopathy and property damage. The story culminates at the Christmas Eve ball, where Esther and her sister Rose (Lucille Bremer) try to go all mean-girl on the girl who who showed up with Rose’s would-be suitor. In the meantime, Esther’s beau — do we really need to go on? As if anyone reading this post doesn’t know the film? Anyway, here she is, the absolute Princess of Christmas Eve.
As we’ve noted a time or two before, red dresses in Christmas movies inevitably get paired with or square off against someone in a green dress. The temptation to do so has to be overwhelming and costume designer Irene Sharaff opted to just go with it. Just look at this perfect trio of Christmas belles. One screencap tells you exactly what time of year it is.
The point to this dress is it’s Christmas Eve. The hidden meaning behind this dress is that it’s Christmas Eve. Sorry, but sometimes a costume is exactly what it appears to be and you don’t have to unpack any symbolism or semiotics. It’s Judy, never looking prettier, in an absolute dream of a ball gown. After landing that much sought-after marriage proposal. Esther comes home to drop an utter classic on her baby sister, who thinks she’ll never have another happy Christmas:
While we can’t say a beaded head scarf makes much sense, she’s pretty much dripping in Christmas at this point.
And it should be noted that the dress, like so many great movie costumes, goes through several scenes and emotional states; from scheming party-goer to romance to sadness and finally to Christmas with the family. She dominates the screen in every scene.
Next up: Santa, baby!
[Photo/Still Credit: Courtesy of MGM]
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Musical Monday: WHITE CHRISTMAS
Christmas Movie Dress Advent Calendar Day 22: Barbara Stanwyck in CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT Next Post:
Musical Monday: WHITE CHRISTMAS
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