The 20 most iconic dresses in cinematic history

From Julie Christie’s electrifying sequin gown in 1975 hit film Shampoo to the Paco Rabanne party dress Audrey Hepburn debuted in Two for the Road (1967), and Julia Roberts’ bow-fronted minidress in Mystic Pizza (1988) — these are the 20 most iconic dresses from cinema.

1. Julie Christie, Shampoo (1975)

It’s not hard to guess why audiences were left enamoured by the floor-length sequined gown Julie Christie wore in 1975 hit film Shampoo. The dress in question (created by designer John Bates for his label Jean Varon) features a scene-stealing scooped back. The electrifying silhouette has been referenced countless times over the decades, but no one is yet to recreate Christie’s Shampoo look quite so well as Vogue cover star and contributing editor Kate Moss, who wore her own take on cinema’s most seductive dress at the CFDA Awards in 1998.

2. Audrey Hepburn, Two for the Road (1967)

While we’d agree that Audrey Hepburn unveiled some of her most refined on-screen fashion looks during the 1950s and early 1960s in Funny Face (1957) and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), her truly blockbuster party entrance came later, in 1967, when playing Joanna Wallace in the comedy Two for the Road, a movie that’s loaded with on-point contemporary style references. Our favourite? A space-age Paco Rabanne disc dress (complete with matching earrings and bold, feline eyeliner).

3. Diana Ross, Mahogany (1975)

No guide to the best on-screen party dresses would be complete without Diana Ross. The Motown superstar was already established as an acclaimed actress (after playing Billie Holiday in the highly-successful 1972 film Lady Sings the Blues) when she transformed into Tracy Chambers, a struggling fashion-design student on course to becoming a fashion designer. Ross’s wardrobe naturally didn’t disappoint, serving up an embellished kimono-sleeve gown (apparently designed by the star herself assisted by the film’s costume designer Susan Gertsman) worthy of a Met Gala red carpet.

4. Mia Farrow, Great Gatsby (1974)

Mia Farrow caused a pop-culture sensation when she stepped into the silken T-bar shoes of F Scott Fitzgerald’s character Daisy for the 1974 film adaptation of The Great Gatsby. The look that stole the day? A luminous beaded evening dress with matching headdress, accessorised with a tiny hands-free bag.

5. Marilyn Monroe, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Marilyn Monroe’s aphrodisiacal hold over fashion turned up a notch in 1953 when she took the role of Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Her mid-century magnetism hasn’t dimmed in the decades since. The film’s ruling jazz number, Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend, sees Monroe in a strapless fuchsia gown by costume designer William Travilla, complete with opera gloves and twinkling jewels. Let’s take a minute to revel in the aesthetic bliss of the scene: that unapologetically shocking pink pitched against the scarlet backdrop, and that eternal twinkle in her eye that you can’t help but fall in love with.

6. Grace Kelly, To Catch a Thief (1955)

Director Alfred Hitchcock didn’t mess around when it came to timeless film heroines. In 1955 (the year before her marriage to Prince Rainier III of Monaco), the latter-day princess wore a series of devastatingly glamorous dresses while commanding the screen in Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief (care of cinema’s most-famous costume designer, Edith Head). The white strapless gown wins.

7. Sharon Stone, Casino (1995)

While the real fur has dated, the gold illusion dress that Bob Mackie created for Sharon Stone’s role as Ginger in Martin Scorsese’s 1995 hit, Casino, certainly hasn’t. The attitude, heady glamour and on-screen power Stone personifies gives rise to one of cinema’s all-time greatest style moments; schedule a home screening for three hours of unrivalled fashion fantasy from one of Hollywood’s all-time greats.

8. Demi Moore, Indecent Proposal (1993)

It was designer Thierry Mugler who created Demi Moore’s blockbuster black dress for 1993’s hit film Indecent Proposal — his signature graphic neckline offsetting the star’s sharp jaw-length bob to spark a new era of knife-sharp 1990s glamour.

9. Maggie Cheung, In the Mood for Love (2000)

Costume designer William Chang had his work cut out for him during the filming of director Wong Kar-wai’s masterpiece, In the Mood for Love, in which actress Maggie Cheung sports more than 20 different cheongsams. The size of Cheung’s character Su Li-zhen’s dress collection makes it tricky to pin down one favourite. But who could resist the rose-strewn dress that, nearly two decades on, still has a star power all of its own?

10. Julia Roberts, Mystic Pizza (1988)

Forget Pretty Woman (for now), it’s the bow-fronted minidress that Julia Roberts sports in 1988’s hit release, Mystic Pizza, that sees Roberts realness enter the realm of 1980s bodycon (ultra-natural curls and kitten-heel pumps included).

11. Sophia Loren, Arabesque (1966)

Neapolitan screen-siren Sophia Loren pulled off acres of blush-pink organza long before the look became a global red-carpet phenomenon. The dress in question was designed especially for the actress’s part in 1966 thriller Arabesque by Marc Bohan at Dior. Consider this one of the most enviable on-screen wardrobes of all time — Yves Saint Laurent himself was also personally involved in creating Loren’s costumes.

12. Goldie Hawn, Death Becomes Her (1992)

When it comes to the scarlet dress, look no further than Goldie Hawn, who worked the Jessica Rabbit-style gown for her role as Helen Sharp in 1990s dark comedy Death Becomes Her. Yes, there’s an enormous side split, coordinating scarlet pumps and a voluminous Beverly Hills blowout. We should also give co-star Isabella Rossellini props for wearing a beaded necklace as a top with aplomb..

13. Michelle Pfeiffer, Scarface (1983)

Michelle Pfeiffer was a relative newcomer when she took a star turn as Elvira Hancock in Scarface opposite Al Pacino. Her signature look — a cross-back slip dress — was the brainchild of costume designer Patricia Norris, who was also a close collaborator of David Lynch, steering the fashion vision for Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet. Right now, Pfeiffer’s on-screen endorsement of round-the-clock lingerie is a succinct reminder why, on some days, it pays not to get “dressed” at all.

14. Marlene Dietrich, A Foreign Affair (1948)

The modern celebrity love affair with the “naked” dress (championed by everyone from Cher to Rihanna and Beyoncé) began with one of Hollywood’s earliest adopters, Marlene Dietrich. Nicknamed the “illusion” dress for its faux-nude effect, this silver-screen moment was so influential that it continues to impact fashion more than 70 years later. The brains behind it? Progressive costume designer Edith Head.

15. Nastassja Kinski, Paris, Texas (1984)

Not all blockbuster dresses are sequin-clad gowns or high-drama LBDs. Some, like the fuzzy hot- pink mini that Nastassja Kinski wears with translucent black tights in Wim Wenders’ cult hit, are destined to modernise the notion of on-screen glamour itself.

16. Ginger Rogers, Swing Time (1936)

More than 80 years on from its cinematic debut, the ruffle-sleeve gown with a shirr Peter Pan collar that Ginger Rogers wore in hit musical Swing Time calls on our modern love of frou. Volume, movement and attitude included.

17. Vivien Leigh, Gone with the Wind (1939)

The past decade’s revival of marabou-trim dresses makes the bejeweled burgundy party gown Vivien Leigh wore as Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind all the more prescient. This fittingly attention-grabbing number was the handiwork of costume designer Walter Plunkett. As Rhett Butler puts it: “Nothing modest or matronly will do for this occasion.” Cue one almighty on-screen party entrance.

18. Ava Gardner, The Killers (1946)

Ava Gardner's asymmetric black-satin gown from the 1946 silver-screen crime flick The Killers, (based on Ernest Hemingway’s original short story), has proven to be a timeless sartorial citation for its no-nonsense, ‘clean’ silhouette masterminded by American costume designer Vera West.

19. Lauren Bacall, To Have and Have Not (1944)

With proof that the cutaway dress isn’t a modern catwalk invention, Lauren Bacall’s silken peekaboo gown in To Have and Have Not is a film heroine power move straight out of the ‘OldHollywood’ playbook. The scene that’s been referenced ever since? Bacall leaning against a piano in a smoke-filled bar, her dress revealing a slice of midriff, singing How Little We Know.

20. Anita Ekberg, La Dolce Vita (1960)

Legendary Italian film director Federico Fellini set the stage for one of cinema’s most lionized moments when he enlisted the talents of Swedish actress Anita Ekberg to play Sylvia, a world-famous American star. The film collected the Oscar for Best Costume Design, inducting that moment when Ekberg leaps into Rome’s Trevi Fountain – wearing costumier Piero Gherardi’s plunging gown – into our perennial pop culture vernacular.

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