Fashion in Film: Elephant Walk

When Elizabeth Taylor passed in March of this year, the prolific stories and images about her reminded me of one of her films that I hadn't seen in years.  Elephant Walk had entranced me as a young woman because of the stunning clothes worn by Elizabeth Taylor.  It was perhaps one of the seeds that was planted early on that grew to become my fascination and love for vintage dresses from the 1950s.

The film was made in 1954 and Edith Head designed the costumes for Elizabeth Taylor.  The movie was filmed on location in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and the setting is stunning.  Head does a great job of making the star stand out amidst such exotic backgrounds.

The clothes that Taylor wears might seem out of place on a remote tea plantation if we weren't told early in the film that her new husband treated her to a new wardrobe in Paris on their honeymoon.

Head dressed Taylor in full skirted dresses with tiny waists that accented her ample bosom.  The dresses were always belted and most of the belts had some sort of adornment or beading to draw the eye right to Taylor's miniscule waistline.

Taylor wore this pink peignoir set on her first night on the plantation.  She looked very romantic and beautiful.

My favorite dress in the entire film is this evening gown.  Purple lace sculpts Taylor's figure very tightly and a white tulle full skirt floats beneath it.  You can see the gown in action in this video.

Like the look?  I have this 1950s dress available at Couture Allure that was probably inspired by Taylor's dress in the film.  Pretty, isn't it?