Sunday, December 29, 2013

Maid Marian's Costumes: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

I've seen "The Adventures of Robin Hood" soooo many times. It's a cute, fun 1938 film starring Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havilland. Errol Flynn will forever be Robin Hood to me. He's happy-go-lucky, dashing, and cocky. Everything Robin Hood should be. And Errol is quite a handsome bloke, if I do say so myself.

But this post is dedicated to the glorious costumes of Olivia De Havilland, who plays Maid Marian. Her costumes range from gloriously beautiful to gloriously hideous. That's why I love them so much. I don't know if I've ever seen so many costume changes in a movie... she probably rivals Queen Amidala in The Phantom Menace. ;)

As a young girl, part of the fun of watching the movie with my siblings was just sighing or giggling over Olivia's costumes together. Her dresses are still one of the film's main attractions for me. I've scoured the internet many a time, collecting as many pictures of her costumes as I could.

So let's start! (I can't quite remember in which order Olivia wears her costumes, so I'm ordering these randomly)


This costume is comprised of a silver cascading gown, with red wimple and cloak, and green jeweled broach and belt. I like this costume. It's very medieval (maybe not very historically accurate, but it gives off the medieval feel anyway) and the cape is so dramatic. And I love the belt!



This is probably one of, if not THE, most gorgeous dress in the movie. And it's a nightgown.

It is enough to make me drool with desire. I WANT THIS DRESS. The sleeves are to die for. The whole thing is romantic and stunning. And her braids are so cute. The only question: How does she sleep in it?



I think this dress could have been pretty, but it comes off too metallic and "sci-fi." And, I'm sorry, but who decided wrapping a dark ribbon around her sleeves looked good? It's almost comical. Her arms look like candy canes.


This dress is soooo beautiful! It's white and elegant and the sleeves are beautiful. Are they made of lace? I can't quite tell. Well, whatever the material is, the sleeves are perfectly flouncy, lacy, and airy. (As you can probably tell, I'm not a seamstress or an expert in materials and dress patterns. Just an admirer of pretty costumes.)


Oh, no! The black beetle dress! Yeah, this one kind of makes me thing of a giant black beetle. Hehehe. It's very "sci-fi" and dramatic. You'd almost imagine an evil villainess wearing this. And don't overlook the fur-trimmed sleeves.


AHHH, here it is! The pretties! This is one of my favorite dresses in the movie, maybe tied with the gorgeous nightgown. It's a long velvet burgundy dress, with dramatic sleeves. It oozes medieval majesty, elegance, and romance.


This dress was never in the movie, as far as I can tell. I'm just including it cause it's kind of cute, and again - THOSE SLEEVES! EEEEEK.

It's like she's judging me for speaking harshly of her dress
This is really the only pic I can find of this dress, the first one Olivia wears in the movie. The dress has a very... erm... interesting pattern to it. Definitely not my favorite.

And now... *drumroll*... the most hideous dress in the movie...


The one I always wait for expectantly when watching the movie, so I can gawk, shake my head, and wonder what kind of evil power corrupted the heart of the one who made Olivia wear such a fashion disaster...

The striped dress. Shudder. Which is worse? The vertically striped dress (the stripes coming in a variety of ugly colors, but mostly a muddy brown), or the sickly yellow wimple? It almost looks like she's wearing a very ugly version of the coat of many colors.

I wonder why Marian decided to wear this to Robin Hood's execution? Did she really want this dress to be the last thing Robin saw her in? Not a good last impression, m'dear.

Well, there you have it. Maid Marian's many dresses. The good, the bad, the ugly.

Which dress is your favorite? Which one is the worst? Let me know in the comments below, please. :)

3 comments:

  1. I forgot about this movie! Holy cow, the black dress is awful!!! it really does look beatle-like. On the other hand, that soft green nightgown? lovely. I LOVE the red color on the velvet looking dress. I have always loved the long, guinivere-type flowy sleeves. I always wanted to be in a movie when I was younger, but I'm pretty sure that was mostly because I wanted to wear the clothes that you could never get away with in real life, sadly :p I always got my costume fix from LotR, I mean, Eowyn and Arwen have some seriously gorgeous dresses in those films!! I wish there had been more female characters for the fantastic costumers to make dresses for :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love long Guinivere-type sleeves and medieval dresses, too. And yes, Eowyn and Arwen's costumes are so gorgeous. I wish more well-made movies set in the medieval era would be made. I need more pretty dresses to look at! ;p

      Delete
  2. "Ugly version of the coat of many colors" - lol. That's seriously what it looks like! The nightgown dress is the prettiest to me.

    ReplyDelete