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Ann's Beauty Dress
Version 1.2 - 2/14/06
Kong rages though New York desperately searching for his Beauty, discarding one blond
after another in disappointment. Suddenly out of the fog, Ann Darrow
walked bravely down the street -- a vision of fantasy -- Kong's Beauty.
She bravery greeting her Beast, King Kong.
Ann's Finale costume is a fantasy dress. Through all the stress the
dress stays perfect. She doesn't notice the cold temperatures, she
just stays the perfect Beauty - that's movie magic costume design at it's finest.
Interesting comparison to the 1933 King Kong: Naomi Watt's 2005
Beauty outfit never is marred or damaged, magically staying pristine. Fay Wray's long evening gown , when in Kong's hand has a hem that looks very
similar, though it too appears not to tatter. ( In the '33 version,
scrunching accounts for the look.) However, for Naomi, Kong always
picks her up with the skirt perfectly positioned. Interestingly, by the top of the
Empire State Building, both have the same diagonal hem as
Naomi's dress - so, the look is maintained.
Eight of these gowns were sewn for the finale scenes. Terry Ryan's
design inspiration was "the snow in New York". They wanted elegance in
movement without being too fussy.
So far we have very few good shots of the dress by itself. The beauty
shots are chose-up photos with Kong. We have had to cap some low rez
items to give a overall view of the dress. Details can be found on the
higher resolution close-up. The dress was exhibited at FIDM's "Art of
Motion Picture Design" in 2006. Some notes come from then.
Dress Index
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Ann walks out of the fog towards Kong.
This is the first glimpse we get of her Beauty costume. |
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The silhouette of the bias cut dress. |
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| White silk velvet dress,
| Outer layer is white silk - very minimal nap, looks like vintage
velvet, not seen in the stores today.
| From 3 feet away, looks more like sueded charmeuse |
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| Lined in silk, looked like a very mat china silk
| Lining runs about 1" or less shorter for most of the skirt except
for the front dip where it is a few inches shorter. |
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| Dress decorated with bits of silver glitter confetti "confetti"
hot-fix silver iron-on nail heads.
| Small circular shinny bits that sparkle in the light. |
| Only show on shoulders, near the front seams at the drop waist
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| Bias cut sleeveless dress
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| Asymmetrical hem coming to a soft point in front |
| Curved "V" neck in front
| Top fabric is gathered at the shoulder with rhinestone clips |
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| Back neck swoops low
| A slightly pointed cowl neck has been added to the back to bring up
the neck a bit |
| The outer cowl piece is tacked down at the point and at one or two
other places.
| Velvet collar is attached to the neck and falls back. It is
unlined. Hem is 3/8" rolled and finished by hand. |
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| Note as show, the gown is only going to stay on with tape at the
shoulders.
| Tape loops have been confirmed by watching the movie. |
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| Opens on the left side
| Fastens closed with a long row of buttons - pearlescent shank
buttons |
| Run from a few inches under the arm all the way down to the lower
hip seam. |
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| Shoes: Silver leather t-strapped heals |
| No jewelry at this point, not even the rhinestone hair clip |
| Peti-pant half slip / tap slip (i.e. looks like a very short half
slip, but it more like shorts, for modesty) |
| Assumed pantyhose, only have the documentation of their use in the 1st
NY scene. |
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Shoulder fabric is gather on the shoulder
strap. The facing is probably flat and the gathers are tacked.
Notice lining shows just a bit inside the center of the neckline |
Shows the shapes of neckline perfectly
with no stress or movement. |
Note the placement of the little bits of
silver "confetti", almost bead size. They are scattered
close to the inside "V", they fade as you get father down the "V" |
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The fabric is thin enough that you can
see the seam around around the neckline. This is a very low
napped thin silk velvet. |
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Back of the Dress
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Notice even when running, the collar
doesn't move much. It's tacked on the bottom and at least one
place higher up. |
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Rhinestone clip at the top her her
shoulders |
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Notice the center of the "flower".
One rhinestone surrounded by 5 others. |
Note, that weird yellow circle is a small
stray curl. |
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Clasp looks like it's a two part. The front forms a bit of flower
base and the flower itself stands up. The back rhinestone circle hooks
around the flower head.
Placement of Glitter Bits
The decorations on the dress are not actually glitter or rhinestones.
They are a new-ish (newly perfected) method of ironing on the designs.
These are called iron-on nail heads. They can be bought separately or
on appliqués. This dress looks like 6 or 7 appliqués were cut up to
give a more random appearance and elegance to the dress.
Each appliqué is formed of many round silver nailheads, 1/4"
approximately. The shape is like a small sun with outward shooting
rays. The center circle is 1/2 to 3/4" in diameter (thumbnail size).
The center is empty. Straight spokes of silver dots radiate outward.
3 appliqués are places on the lower skirt on the left side and 3 more at
the hip above the bias line. These have been cut up so that the ray
crossing does not get too dense. Extra bits go up towards the center
front. More of the bits frame the top 2/3s of the neck. These area
probably cut off bits of rays.
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Approximate placement of the silver
iron-on nailhead appliqués. Marks are not for a size reference...
only to get the point across. Circles (the center of the glitter
appliqués) are in the approximately right place. |
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So far we have not been able to find the appliqué on line.
Hopefully it is out there, if we look hard enough. Please let us know
if you spot it.
The closest we've found are a set of 3 in clear rhinestones. They'd
work in a pinch.
http://www.suessparklers.com/3390-141.html . However, the spokes
are curved and the rhinestones will be heavier than the silver metal
nailheads.
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This is probably a CG image of Ann, but
you can see the T-Strap silver shoes. |
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See the rest of the pics with the pattern study on the
next page...
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