Ahh White Christmas. The 1954 film is one nostalic moment after another, and I love it to pieces!
Due to my infatuation for movies made in the spirit of all things crinoline and girdle, White Christmas is one of those movies that I have nearly memorized. My sister and I used to be able to do a perfect rendition of the dressing room scene, me as Phil and she as Bob. It was divine.
But although Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby are the ones really benefiting costume-wise in this movie due to Edith Head's tendency to prefer dressing men over women, Vera Ellen and Rosemary Clooney have some truly incredible costumed moments as well, and I intend to break down their costumes in a part one and two. I'm not sure how much I can say about Kaye and Crosby's costumes so I'm going to research first before I make any commitments to a part 3 and 4.
I really want to start with one of my favorite characters, and also, on one of the most underrated facets of Vera Ellen's costumes.
Vera Ellen was a dancer from a very young age, performing on broadway and as a Rockette early in her career and proficient in ballet and tap. Due to her line of work, she was in very good shape, and it's evident that she was very athletic throughout her career, and although White Christmas is one of her last movies, she still dances her way through it effortlessly. However, there was a rumor that while filming White Christmas that her neck was always covered to hide the consequences of a very bad case of anorexia. While supposedly that is only a rumor, Vera did only wear high-necked dresses and shirts in the film, and I have another theory as to why, which I'll address at the end.
Possibly one of my favorite outfits from the film, despite the jarring color, Vera's yellow rehearsal dress perfectly displays Edith Head's obvious attraction to monochrome ensembles in this film. It's evident also in the shoe choice for her dancing partner, which match his slacks. This happens a few times in the film for both men and women, including in the second scene with both Vera and Danny Kaye in Florida.
Here we see Head's choice to again use monochromes on both characters. Vera still wears a high neckline, generally mock-neck, and what appear to be bishop sleeves with a full circle skirt and darker pink crinoline. The blush overlay is very fitting for this scene as we actually begin a mild but telling character arc for Ellen's character, Judy Haynes.
At the beginning of the film, Judy writes a letter under the name of her brother, who was a comrade of famous entertainers Bob Wallace (Crosby) and Phil Davis (Kaye), in hopes that they'll come to see the Haynes sister's performance. This of course sets off our plot, but it's important to note that Judy begins the film being observed by Clooney's character Betty Haynes as "just a little chick," and implying that she needs to be cared for and that she's not fully matured or even prepared for many challenges of adulthood without the help of her sister to take care of her and watch over her. Judy's opening dresses are softer, lighter, usually made with chiffon in light colors, very clearly signaling her supposed role as one being protected. The shift happens as soon as she begins hatching a plot alongside Phil Davis to instead look out for her sister and set her up with Bob Wallace.
Back to her pre-matchmaking days, shown below, even Judy's performance costume looks more along the lines of the clothing she would normally wear for everyday evening wear, whereas on Betty (who I'll cover in part two) the dress appears to be more of a costume, due to the fact that Betty consistently favors low cut necklines in her own clothing, even in her bathrobe, which sports a crossover neck.
In the scene where Betty calls her a little chick and herself the mother hen, Judy's bathrobe is white with red detailing. I see this as Edith's Head's expression of Judy's supposed youth- Betty believing she knows more and is wiser and more mature, while Judy is playful, with her "angles" and more adventurous nature in general.
Another important note is hair. Betty's hair is always done down, curled, and styled, but always framing her face, very mature. But Judy's hair is up in a styled ponytail, much like the teenage style for a lot of girls in the 1950s. I really appreciate those little details in her character arc, since the scene where Judy announces her engagement sees her sporting a new hairstyle very similar to Betty's. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's talk about the shift in costumes first.
We see Judy go very quickly from these flowy evening gowns to solid, more mature colors and patterns as she begins to fall in love with and eventually becomes engaged to Phil Davis, as well as when she's matchmaking for Betty and Bob.
Interestingly enough, for a movie whose consistent themes center around red, white, and this ever-present earth-toned array of menswear, Judy favors yellow, specifically mustard.
In fact, the only yellow outfit Judy wears after becoming engaged is the dance practice dress above. As we see her get engaged and slowly "grow up" as a character, Judy begins to take a leaf from her sister's book and wears more red and darker/hot pink.
I am not including the last look of the movie yet since it is not a specific character choice, but instead the same color that every character on stage is wearing.
But now I want to talk about "Engagement Judy". This outfit is very very interesting to me, and I'll break it down.
This is the scene in which Judy becomes unofficially officially "engaged" to Phil in order to trick Betty into thinking she's taken care of so that Betty can be free to do whatever she wants. Here we see some really interesting elements that lead into her color theme revolution. Similar to the bathrobe scene, Judy wears red and white, which are highlights to an otherwise black outfit. She wears a full circle skirt, red heels, white turtleneck, and black sweater, along with a red studded belt.
Hints of red are appearing as this is the first casual outfit (her bathrobe doesn't count as an outfit) that has red in it. Red becomes a theme for her from there on out. Even her nails are painted red in the scene where she receives the letter from Betty, and her gloves are red in the "Mandy" dress rehearsal scene.
I could also be misremembering, but I am almost positive that as the movie goes on, Judy begins to wear darker red lipstick.
All of this to say, subconscious messages about maturity and adulthood are very often thrown into the mix of Judy's character wardrobe, and even in the scene where she and Phil announce their engagement, white no longer means innocence, but instead a kind of straightforward callback to her ability to still be the "little chick" to Betty. She expresses this feeling the night of the engagement when they're both going to bed- how nothing really changes between them- and also, in opposition to that idea, her ability to make her own decisions. And that second point is purely drawn from Judy's hair. In the scene mentioned above when Judy and Phil talk about getting engaged, Judy is no longer wearing her hair up in a ponytail. And the same for her actual engagement announcement scene.
And this isn't just because Judy is in a party dress; we've seen Judy wear the pink chiffon number at the beginning during an evening-wear scene (I'm almost positive that's chiffon or some sort of tulle, but I don't know) and her hair was still up.
However, in the engagement scene, we finally see this:
Although I love her updo, this has got to be my favorite style for Judy. She's mature, she's adult but not the way Emma or even Betty is. She no longer parallels Susan Waverley in hairstyle and she's an established independent character, no longer being the "little chick" to Betty, ironically, by now dressing and styling herself more like her older sister, in a "grown up" way.
I do think it's a cool callback that her hair is styled "a little more off the face" in the same way she recommends Betty should wear her hair at the beginning.
I'm not going to discuss the "Mandy" number costume that Judy wears since it could literally have it's own rant and I'd love to be able to study it further first.
But I will conclude this random and rambling essay of sorts with final thoughts about the red dress Judy wears at the end and the high-neckline style she never falters from.
It is actually difficult to find a picture of Judy's Christmas performance dress that clearly shows it's tailoring and style, since her neck and shoulders are being smothered in white trim. Understandably, we're still following the theme of Betty in a v-neckline and Judy in a mockneck or high-neckline. Judy's Christmas dress seems to be more tailored to me than Betty's was. I say this based on the cut from what we see and also from this picture:
Betty's top appears more blousey than the bodice-fit of Judy's, which is completely on track style-wise since Betty is known to wear more blousey casual wear, and it reflects ultimately how the character's play out at the end of the film. I really appreciate Judy's affinity for belts, which are even seen in outfits that really don't need a belt, as pictured below:
As for the Christmas performance gown, the full silhouette is simply 1950's Hollywood's idea of the Victorian era; a romanticized look at hoopskirts, bustles, muffs and all things corseted with an underbust... this is one of my favorite things to look out for in historical films made at the time of Hollywood's fascination with westerns and period dramas. Always the small waist but something off about the silhouette- off because it's a 1950's silhouette done in "Victorian" clothing. It's amazing what this era-cocktail can create, and honestly one of the my favorite "inaccuracies" in these old films.
As for high necklines, here is my conclusion: chances are the rumor about Vera Ellen having a bad neck is false since she was known to wear low necklines in her personal life and other films, and this movie very clearly has character themes it likes to stick to religiously.
The mockneck is just how Head saw a youthful but slowly maturing performer styling herself based on the beauty expectations of the time, between face shape and body proportions. Head was a renowned designer and I completely trust that the constant use of mocknecks was the best option to help the older/younger sister dynamic seem more dramatic. That as well as the fact that face shape and necklines were very important in the early to mid 20th century. It's not a dramatic conclusion but one I stand by since I will admit to minimal research on the costuming process of this movie.
I for one enjoy Judy's wardrobe far more than Betty's stylistically, but as I will elaborate in part two, Betty has quite a few character arc ensembles that I enjoy as well.
My apologies for any inconsistencies; this was a sudden inspiration, so it's just my train of thoughts as I am thinking them, and I am posting this without much proofreading because I am in a bit of a rush.
Thank you for reading this far, and I plan on updating part 2 soon!
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