Did You Ever Notice... Arwen's Angel Dress?

[Arwen's daughter]

Since we talked about Eowyn's first dress last time, I thought we might talk about Arwen's first dress this week. There are actually two dresses at work in this scene. The one most of us recognize is actually a pick-up scene from later in the shooting schedule. The original dress, which still appears for a moment in the film while Arwen rides, looked like this:

From the EE DVD commentary... The original dress was of wool woven with metal, with a terrific drape to it, an unusual find, as were many of the elven clothes. The Cape she wears was crocheted and hooded, and also of wool and metal crocheted together into a fabric. This gave the 'halo' effect. However, when they filmed her sitting beside Frodo it all got too heavy and clumpy, so they scrapped that part and made the 'Angel dress' we are familiarly with instead, with a crossover, not unintentionally, but because they liked the 'Halo Cloak' for the dismount, The new dress was more "heavily beaded with gems and jewels", and they didn't use the cloak for that part of the scene."

AlleyCatScratch has a wonderful breakdown of the differences between the two dresses.

The final dress was two dresses, the overdress of a synthetic and metal knit fabric and the underdress is a crinkled silk/metal mix. It has a silver trim along the neckline and a much smaller beaded trim along all of the edges (except the hem). Ngila says in the commentary that from this dress they developed the shape of the wardrobe for Arwen. Wide open necklines with fabric fitted only at the neck and left to hang to the floor.

As always, I refer you to AlleyCatScratch and the Costumer's Guide for more details and pictures.

So, any thoughts or comments?

 

[_V_]

 

[Elven]

actually were pants! Is that right ... pallazzo pants?

I adore both outfits - gee Ngila came up with some astounding combinations! Arwen looks fantastic in both ... its a pity the shawl/cloak was a bit cumbersome, I love it!! Maybe I know what to crochet this winter now ... must remember 42 inches long and twice as wide ... hmmm ... it will be a blanket on me []

Isn't the sleeve design beautiful! and such lovely delicate detail.

Arwen was spoilt rotten with those designs - they are just lovely. I remeber when I first saw Arwen appear, and she was like an Angel - quite 'divine' ...

I love these threads!!

Thanks Arwen's daughter ... off back to Allyscratch to check out some more...

Cheers
Elven x

 

[grammaboodawg]

of this outfit. Not just because of its flowing, angelic appearance... but because as she approached our stricken Frodo lying in his poisoned haze, she appeared as an angel and gave him something other than the darkness to latch onto.

 

[Peredhil lover]

... that there are two dresses, not one! Oh well, I don't have the best eye for this sort of thing [:/] - but you're about to change that.

This halo effect is great, as are both dresses - I'm always amazed what Ngila did and what beautiful materials she found to use for these many dresses.

All I can say is: No wonder Liv was so excited about all the beautiful dresses she got to wear during the filming!

Thank you for posting these wonderful pictures!

 

[One Ringer]

I like the effect of having Arwen in this dress during Frodo's point of view, and then it changes to her elven clothes when we back out of the light. It's very effective, and does make her seem like an angel. It's indeed a very beautiful dress. []

 

[OhioHobbit]

and I see all the actresses walking down the red carpet in their designer gowns I think how cool it would be, and how classy it would be, if someone had Ngila Dickson design them a gown for the Oscars. Something like this one.

 

[_V_]

while I like the costuming, I think Arwen's intro remains one of the most forced sequences in the entire trilogy.

Tyler's Arwen was actually not half bad, but her first seen happened to be relatively her worst (most out of character)

 

[Arwen's daughter]

actually were pants! Is that right ... pallazzo pants?
That's right, they used pants on the first version. Because it's so difficult to look elegant when riding astride with your skirt pulled up to your knees [cool]

Isn't the sleeve design beautiful! and such lovely delicate detail.
That's one thing I love about their designs, they never took anything for granted. Something as simple as a basic sleeve was changed to make it more elven. The details are fantastic.

 

[Arwen's daughter]

Never Realized ... that there are two dresses, not one!

If it weren't for the eyes of others, I'd never have caught it either! The filmmakers do an excellent job of disguising things here.

 

[Peredhil lover]

When the Lótien cloaks can change their colour to disguise the bearer from discovery, then Arwen's dress can change, too ;-)

And I think, one can watch the movies for the 50th time and still discover something new with each viewing. That is one of the reasons why I love them so much - there are so many little details in the background. The engravings on weapons, the texture or embroidery on dresses, the architecture, simple household props like mugs or dishes or Bilbos books ... or, in this case, the magical change of a dress. It is impossible to take all this in in one viewing. At first it gives only the feeling everything is real, and later, when the storyline doesn't distract so much anymore, you're finding more and more wonderful things. And these scrapshots are a great way to have a better look at details.

 

[Elven]

That's right, they used pants on the first version. Because it's so difficult to look elegant when riding astride with your skirt pulled up to your knees

Thats just great geeky information!! []

 

[weaver]

But looking at that cloak, I can see why they scrapped it. It is clunky!

I agree with others that this particular dress, and the way they filmed, has a very ethereal quality about it. Makes me believe it would be the kind of thing that elves would weave.