Ermengarde (Joyce Ames) Yellow train dress.. Hello Dolly! (1969).. Costume by Irene Sharaff.
Dolly Levi’s gold dress in Hello, Dolly! (1969)
Costume design by Irene Sharaff
This year’s Met Gala would have been the perfect opportunity to recreate this gown or something reminiscent of it. Not only is it period-appropriate: 1890s (albeit the Gilded Age reinterpreted through a 1960s lens for a big,splashy musical), but for the literal minded: it’s gold. Very gold. Apparently the dress has almost 10 lbs of 14K gold thread, as well as Swarovski crystals and rhinestones, to make it look so sumptuous on screen (Some of the gold thread can be seen in the choker Streisand wears).
(Piece of trivia: All the gold made it heavy. When Dolly walks down the stairs at Harmonia Gardens, it has a train. Unfortunately, the train had to be removed for the musical number so that Streisand could do the choreography and the other dancers wouldn’t step on it.)
But you wouldn’t even need actual gold thread to make a stunning outfit. Put a long train on that thing, sweep your hair up and put in a few extravagent feathers, and you’re ready.
Of course the attendees don’t have to interpret the Gala theme quite so literally, but it would’ve been great if at least it had been referenced a bit more than it was. The Met Gala is an occasion where famous rich people can go all out, and the most opulent clothes are the least out of place. Instead, we mostly got outfits that required a long, torturous explanation of how they fitted the brief (spoiler alert: they didn’t) and celebs who didn’t care what the theme was and just wore whatever they wanted/whatever was lent to them (again).
la-princesse-romantique
