Roses are Red, Peonies are Blush, Period Floral Movie Gowns are Opulent and Lush
Flowers are synonymous with beauty and femininity, so it makes perfect sense that movie costumes that use floral aresuper lovely.
This is a ranked list of floral costumes from period movies, which are ranked by aesthetics, memorability and how well they suit the character/film. Undergarments, cover-ups, sleepwear, outerwear, swimwear etc are not included, but in some instances, especially on this list, a matching outerwear was added.
Costume should have more than just a few rosettes or trim. The florals should be either an all over print ie. embroidery, paint, beading or woven into the fabric and should have some visual contrast against the main fabric, we should see that the focus are the flowers or leaves or other botanicals.
Floral costumers from Modern Set and Fantasy/Sci-fi movies are also not included, as they have their own respective ranking lists. Also I didn’t want to cross-reference with other costumes on other lists so some costumes might not be listed or got moved to this ranking. Also while I do try and be objective as I can, my own subjective do contribute.
List is subject to change.
Spoilers!
10. Dido from Belle (2013)
Original Designer: Ken Trew
Belle is a biopic of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw,) who was considered the first black member of the British aristocracy in the late 1700s. She was the illegitimate daughter of Maria Belle, a formerly enslaved African woman and Sir John Lindsay. She was raised by the Countess and first Earl of Mansfield, her great aunt and uncle, alongside her cousin Elizabeth Murray.
The first time we see Dido as young lady she appears with her cousin is in a white floral English style gown. The flowers are pink with bright green leaves giving her a youth fresh appearance.
This costume was originally made in for BBC’s Clarissa (1991) and was reused again in Hulu’s Harlots. (source)
9. Madame de Tourvel from Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
Designer: James Acheson
Dangerous Liaisons follows the members of the French aristocracy who delight in ruining the lives of other through seduction. However since they are members of the upper echelons of French society they do have gorgeous costumes which doesn’t excuse them, they are still very cruel people.
The costumes of this version are done in the 1760 style rather than the 1780s as that is the iconic 18th century look.
The focus of Valmont’s seduction and ruin is Madame de Tourvel (Michelle Pfeiffer.) She is characterized as chaste, religious and married to a member of parliament.
Her costumes are less ornate but her cream colored floral gown is quite lovely. The fabric has roses with stems in a diamond pattern. The lace flounces at the sleeves as a touch a elegance without going to over-the-top.
8. Empress Elizabeth from Sissi – The Fateful Years (1957)
Designers: Leo Bei, Gerdago, and Franz Szivats
The third installment of the Sissi trilogy sees the young empress (Romy Schneider) trying navigate the pressures of Court life against her mother-in-law’s machinations, political tensions and her own health.
Early in the movie Sissi is in Hungary, a land she has a great love for but some of the Hungarian nobility hold hostility for the Austria Empire . As way to bridge the gap between Artesian rule and members of the Hungarian aristocracy, she attends a party hosted by an ally in the hopes they will speak to her.
While the party is slightly informal, Sissi wears a white sleeveless ballgown with the Hungarian colors as accent colors. The bodice and skirt have a delicate floral motif repeating the red, green and gold color palette.
7. Wong Chia Chi from Lust, Caution (2007)
Designer: Lai Pan
Lust Caution is a movie adaption of Elieen Chang’s novella. The story follows a university student, Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei) who is tasked with a mission to seduce Mr. Yee, the head of the secret police during the Sino-Japanese war. The seduction is so that he will drop his cautious guard so that he can be assassinated. However her mission is complicated when he starts showing her affection, something that she has lacked.
Blue is Wong Chia Chi’s defining color and most of her costumes are a shade of blue. However pink and purple are used to express her heart and her vulnerability while floral patterns are used to express her emotional state.
All these aspects of visual storytelling come together in a pivotal scene when she sings to Mr.Yee, at a Japanese restaurant. He is moved to tears by her song and she ends up lying in his lap, revealing that she has fallen in love with him, the man who she is trying to assassinate by using a fake identity. Except there was never really a separation between her glamorous married woman persona and the simple student who craves love.
Her cheongsam is a deep blue, is knee length and is sleeveless. It has pink and white flowers all over and the frog closures are also in pink and white. While the costume is simple it is just the perfect blend of the visual storytelling elements of her costumes and the scene is one of the most important in the movie.
6. Queen Victoria from The Young Victoria (2009)
Designer: Sandy Powell
2009’s The Young Victoria explores the early days of Victoria’s (Emily Blunt) long reign as well as her romance and marriage to Prince Albert.
This film depicts her early days of being a Queen as a learning curve. In a scene where a man breaks into the palace and smashes a window, Victoria wears a gown with silvery roses against a grayish color. The off-shoulder collar is made from a silvery fabric along with silk flowers.
The elbow length sleeves are double puffed with a lace trim adding softness.
It’s a pretty and regal look that is also understated.
5. Emma from Emma (2020)
Designer: Alexandra Byrne
2020’s of Emma took great pride in making the costumes looked like character camel to life from Regency era fashion plates.
Towards the end of the movie Knightly confesses his love and proposes to Emma (Anya Taylor-Joy) which is promptly ruined when she gets a nosebleed.
Her dress during this scene is white with green leaves and small yellow flowers embroidery. The design runs down the front sides of her dress and on the sides of the sleeves. A green ombre waist band and statistically placed trim tie the look together.
4. Su Li-zhen from In the Mood for Love (2000)
Designer: William Chang
Set in 1962, In the Mood for Love is about two neighbors who seek comfort in each other as their own spouses are having an affair with each other. They in turn fall in love but due several missed opportunities they do not end up together.
Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) wears multiple fashionable cheongsams. Though they differ in colors and patterns, the collars are always higher with more defined shoulders than typically seen on cheongsams. These details reflects her sense of feeling trapped.
One cheongsam that she wear a few times throughout the movie is a floral patterned cheongsam. The background color is a bright blue with large pink flowers and greenery. It’s stunning.
3. Marie Antionette from Marie Antionette (2006)
Designer: Milena Canonero
2006’s Marie Antoinette is an unabashedly anachronistic emotional portrait of Marie Antoinette’s (Kristen Dunst) inner-world. It has a lush expansive scope to its visual story telling and since its release has been benchmark standard for peak movie costume design. Every single costume in this movie is opulent and fun thus fitting the vibe of the film
Marie Antionette wears scores of costumes throughout the movie, some of which are only seen for a few moments but they are still beautiful.
In the early days of her marriage, she strolls through the gardens of Versailles. As she walks she wears a white French style gown with a pink floral print. The same fabric is used as ruffle at the lower portion of the skirt.
Like many of her other costume it’s beautiful an speaks to her youth but the setting and the garment’s movement makes it compelling.
Shout-out to Marie Antionette’s other floral costumes
2. Ellen Olenska from The Age of Innocence (1993)
Designer: Gabriella Pescucci
In The Age of Innocence the two leading ladies are posed against each other, Ellen (Michelle Pfeiffer) is portrayed as bold and worldly in her bright jewel tones against her younger cousin May who is willowy and innocence swathed in frothy white fabric dresses.
At the start of the movie Ellen has escaped a bad marriage to a Polish count and yearns for the New York of her childhood. Her fantasy and nostalgia blinds her and she wraps this fantasy up in her longing for Archer, May’s fiancé.
In the scene where Archer tells Ellen that he loves her only then to get a message that May has agreed to speed up their wedding thus ruining their chance for happiness, Ellen dresses in a more innocent manner, more akin to May’s style choices.
Ellen’s tea gown is pale and icy aqua floral satin which washes her out, adding to her emotional fragility. White lace makes up the frilly collar, the edges of the cuffs, back of the bustle and along the over draped layer at the front of the skirt. A white pleated trim goes along the hem and the top edge of the cuffs.
It’s a stunning gown that punctuates the heartbreaking scenes as the characters are forced apart in their misguided and noble deception to protect May and cling to their fantasies of each other.
1. Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939)
Costume Designer: Walter Plunkett
Scarlett’s (Vivien Leigh) dress wears to the barbecue is actually a ball gown that she was supposed to wear later for a ball. All that would need to be done is change out some jewelry and her hairstyle and her stunning green sprig dress becomes a gorgeous ball gown. The attention is focused on her shoulders which are exposed at a time when convention dictated that bare shoulders were for the evening.
Of all the Scarlett’s many costumes her sprig dress gets the a lot of screen time. She wears this gown in the hopes of snaring the object of her affection into leaving his fiancée. She is also wearing this when most of the main characters are introduced in the film.
The gown has a lovely green sprig pattern and an off-shoulder neckline that has ruffles and velvet ribbons. The sash at the waist is also velvet. Scarlett typically wears green when she is scheming and her scheme is on full display in this gown. She also wears a large straw hat This gown compliments Scarlett’s character well and works to show her ambition. It also one her most memorable costumes admits a vast array of beautiful costumes.
This one of the costumes that inspired this list.
