character.
Luxury, Power, and Ambition
Purple has many meanings and associations, including royalty and luxury. In fact, purple used to be a color for the ruling class because it was an expensive color dye. Purple is also associated with creativity, wisdom, power, ambition, and magic.
As a combination of both red and blue, purple can be warmer or cooler depending on the mix of red to blue. This list is for the warmer shades of purple, like magenta, fuchsia, eggplant, some lilac, some lavenders, jam, boysenberry and so on. It’s not totally precise, color values and hex codes were checked, but mostly it’s just based on how the costume looks as a whole and what tone stands out.
Purple movie costumes that have more blue tones or shades or that appear cooler like violets, periwinkles and other shades of the blue/red combo have their own lists. This list ranks warm purple costumes from period movies. Modern and fantasy/sci-fi costumes have separate rankings.
List Subject to Change.
10. Mia from La La Land (2016)
Costume Designer: Mary Zophres
La La Land is a love letter to the so-called golden age of Hollywood with a dose of naivety and sentimentality. During the climax of the movie Mia (Emma Stone) envisions a fantasy of the life she and Sebastian could have had if her life had been a film.
During this scene she wears a purple halter dress that is very similar to the blue dress she wore earlier in the film. While the cut and the neckline are the same there are differences, the halter neckline is deeper and there is some ruching at the waistline.
Like many of the costumes in the movie the fabric has a lovely drape that captures movement beautifully even though Mia is not doing much in the way of complicated choreography in this part of the sequence
9. Lili Duran from On the Riviera (1951)
Costume Designer: Travilla
On the Riviera is not a particularly memorable movie from the 1950s. It was the third film adaptation of a stage play called The Red Cat and critics of the time felt the story was tired. However, the costumes were great.
The warmish lavender ombre strapless new look gown Lili (Gene Teirney) is so lovely. It has a mixture of other purple tones giving it a dreamlike ethereal quality while still keeping with that early ’50s high class glamor. To complete this look there is a big bow off-center at the back along the neckline.
8. Mira from Black Orpheus (1959)
Black Orpheus is a modern retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice set against the backdrop of Rio de
Janeiro during carnival.
Mira (Lourdes de Oliveira) is Orfeu’s fiance. She is depicted as jealous, impatient and vengeful. She is the perfect foil to the sweet country girl that is Eurydice. Mira’s purple costume highlights this dichotomy as the purple color is bold
and the fit of the dress is form fitting suggesting that Mira is a stylish and worldly woman of the city. The shine of the fabric add to the dreamlike quality of the film
This silhouette was very much in vogue in the late 50s. Despite the hemline being knee length and the elbow length sleeves this dress is alluring without being vulgar. It’s chic and seductive.
7. Mona Lisa Vito from My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Costume Designer: Carol Wood
Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) is an under-appreciated fashion icon. All her looks from this movie are on point and great examples of early ’90s New York style. She is kind of in the same vein as Fran Drescher’s fashion icon character, Fran Fine, from her TV show, The Nanny.
At the climax of My Cousin Vinny, Mona Lisa wears this dark purple dress to provide expert testimony in a murder case. She not only proves the innocence of the defendants, she demonstrates the effectiveness Joe Pesci’s lawyer character—also Mona Lisa’s fiancée. It’s a very memorable scene and arguably Mona Lisa’s most iconic look.
The dress is short and is an eggplant color. The fabric looks like it has a stretch and could be a knit. The neckline is high and the sleeves are long. The dress is adorned with silver studs. The studs are various sizes and go across the
body and on the sleeves. This dress complements Mona Lisa’s stylish, yet no nonsense vibe.
6. Sam from First Daughter (2004)
Gown Designer: Vera Wang
First Daughter is a teen romantic coming of age comedy centered around the only child of a president, Samantha (Katie Holmes) who just wants ro go to college as a normal student. However she falls for her secret body-guard.
At the end of the movie, her father wins re-election and at the inauguration ball Samantha dances with her father. As the dance she tells him that she is now a grown women worthy of his respect. She them dance with her secret service guard with whom she fell in love.
Her gown for the ball is a very vibrant purple a-line gown. It’s sleeveless with wide straps and v-shaped dip at the center from of the neckline. It’s very minimally detailed which makes it very elegant but the very bright color makes it youthful.
5. Daphne from Scooby-Doo (2002)
Costume Designer: Leesa Evans
Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is a purple-wearing fashion icon. Any of her looks could easily be on this list. This short mini-dress with minimal stripe detailing at the hem is a great combo of her retro cliché vibe mixed with a flair of early 2000s modernity. It’s paired with a matching clutch purse and go-go boots. It communicates her stylish cool awesome girl persona to a T.
4. Selena Quintanilla from Selena (1997)
Costume Designer: Elisabetta Beraldo
This biopic is based on the life of Mexican singer, Selena Quintanilla, and Jennifer Lopez plays the titular songstress. This costume is based on the purple jumpsuit Selena wore at the Astrodome on February 26, 1995, which was tragically her last major concert. She designed the jumpsuit herself.
There was clearly a retro seventies glam inspiration with this iconic look. It has wide bellbottoms and a very defined angled shoulder line with matching shrugs layer and glitter fabric. The exposed midriff is a pure mid-’90s fashion update.
When the shrugs layer is removed the top is criss-cross across the bodice and wrapped at the neck. It’s such an iconic pivotal look that any retelling of her life must include it.
3. Tracy Chambers from Mahogany (1975)
Costume Designer: Diana Ross
If you start doing research on fashionable movies you will eventually run into Mahogany. It’s about aspiring fashion designer, Tracy Chambers, portrayed by Diana Ross, who not only did music, but the costumes as well.
In the narrative of the film, Tracy is reinvented as an in-demand model named Mahogany. The story is very much a Cinderella rags-to-riches narrative and the costumes are probably the best thing about the film. The costumes are over-the-top and super snazzy seventies style.
This purple dress, which is most notable as a behind the scenes promo shot and can be seen on a billboard in the movie. This dress is just so cool and sleek with its feather detailing, asymmetrical single long sleeve, and the draping around the neck.
2. Vesper Lynd from Casino Royale (2006)
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming
There is something so glamorous about the classification of the Bond Girl. Which is why spy films, especially Bond movies, are a great place to look for modern and glamorous costumes in contemporary movies.
In Casino Royale, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) the Bond Girl of the Bond movie. She is HM Treasury liaison officer. Her purple gown is floor length and backless and features a plunging halter neckline with some ruching. The neckline has some silver beading along the edge which gives it angularity. The fabric has a drape which could mean it was cut on the bias. It’s also quite form-fitting, which adds to the allure of all Bond Girls.
1. Giselle from Enchanted (2007)
Costume Designer: Mona May
The purple gown that Giselle (Amy Adams) wears to the ball at the climax of Enchanted (2007) is desperately simple. But, that’s also the point. This scene is about self-actualization, about Giselle choosing reality over fantasy. Her wearing an over-the-top gown like at the start of the film would have negated all her character growth.
It’s a strapless gown and yet there is a beaded band that goes around the neck. This beaded band is sewn to the center of the bodice, which has a slight dip and is gathered at the bust and fitted. The gown flairs out into a mermaid tail silhouette, which is achieved with gussets. The gussets provide movement during the ballroom scene, highlighting every turn she makes on the dance floor.
Sure, it’s not the most glamorous gown, but it speaks to the evolution of Giselle’s character and though not every costume in cinema needs to speak to completing a character arc, it’s nice to see one that is very lovely.
