Obviously, the bright orange inserts are the major feature of this dress--and very striking, too. They look great when the dress is in motion and also give it a flattering line when Garland is standing still.
I'm not certain whether the scarf in the front is actually a continuation of the panels in back or if it's a separate piece that's made to look like it joins up with the back panels. I suspect the latter, as that would probably be easier to achieve, and it would also be the reason for the brown tabs at the shoulders.
In the front center, we see just a hint of a pastel patterned material filling in the slit down the front. It's very likely just an insert, rather than an actual separate layer.
@northernmariette brought this dress to my attention ages ago--and I must thank her for doing so, because it's been far too long since I've watched this movie. I'll have to remedy that soon!
Finally, I'd also like to give honorable mention to a nice brown sweater-and-skirt ensemble worn by one of the other dancers in this scene (can't remember whether it's a named character or not):
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
Description
Edgar Degas rarely accepted portrait commissions; his sitters were almost always family members or people within his social circle. The two women in this somber, unfinished painting were identified through preparatory drawings that label them as “Mme Lisle” (left) and “Mme Loubens” (right). Both were friends of artist Édouard Manet’s family; they likely met Degas at a gathering at Manet’s home. In an 1869 letter, artist Berthe Morisot lamented that Degas had abandoned her at one such soirée for the company of Madame Lisle and Madame Loubens, attesting to the group’s closeness.
2) What do you think of the fact that Arianne also wears a simple dress with vines on it (albeit ivory linen with vines and purple grapes). Is there a pattern for all three women? It reminds me of the echoes between the 163 slavers Dany crucified, the 63 freefolk Jon recruited, and the 63 Iron Born that Ramsey flayed.
That’s a great catch.
It’s in AFFC, it’s a simple dress worn to look humble and it has vines. Yes, of course, it’s meant to place Arianne in that same pattern! :)
Like Cersei and Sansa, she is headed to a trial of sorts.
The captain waited without whilst the princess bathed and brushed her hair and ate sparingly of the cheese and fruit they'd brought her. She drank a little wine to settle her stomach. I am frightened, she realized, for the first time in my life, I am frightened of my father. That made her laugh until the wine came out her nose. When it was time to dress, she chose a simple gown of ivory linen, with vines and purple grapes embroidered around the sleeves and bodice. She wore no jewels. I must be chaste and humble and contrite. I must throw myself at his feet and beg forgiveness, or I may never hear another human voice again.
(AFFC, The Princess in the Tower)
The difference here is the ivory linen (unlike brown wool) and the lack of gold. Arianne’s dress is ivory and purple.
The brown in Cersei’s and Sansa’s dresses are supposed to aid in obfuscating things. It brings out the brown in Sansa’s dyed hair, it might hide the dirt should Cersei have to kneel.
Ivory, on the other hand, shows the stains. Arianne and Doran are honest. Arianne drops her humble and contrite act pretty quickly because she finally wants answers, and she genuinely feels bad about all the things that went wrong, and she finally GETS answers from Doran. Perhaps that is also why her vines bear grapes. It is a successful encounter, proper communication. Honest and fruitful.
It may be the only time an ivory dress is ever successfully worn.
Ivory dresses are otherwise associated with Sansa, Margaery and Dany.
Sansa's ivory silk dress is a gift from Cersei and is ruined in a dramatic breakfast fight with Arya (red stains) that looms large for both girls. By the time Sansa does wear it to appear humble and plead for mercy for Ned, she had dyed it black. She begs in vain, as she later learns.
Her wedding dress (ivory with pearls) is part of a big farce. She is tricked into it, the dress is torn by Joffrey, the wedding remains unconsumated, thankfully.
Margaery wears the same wedding dress (ivory with pearls) twice, but the weddings end in death or downfall.
A dress so similar as to be identical is stripped from her when the septas arrest her, replaced by roughspun.
Dany outright rejects wearing a Qartheen gown (ivory with pearls) suggested to her and goes on in that chapter to reject Xaro’s proposal of marriage and children. (Mhysa v. Mother of Dragons.) A non-starter for Dany.
Basically, ivory dresses are usually associated with humiliation, failure, farcical weddings.
Perhaps it is Arianne’s own decision to be honest that breaks the spell. Go, Arianne!
