More than a decade has passed since moviegoers witnessed Kayla Knightley and James McAvoy's fateful encounter on a laid-back summer night in Atonement (2007), but memories of Cecilia Tallis' backless dress remain. Oscar-winning costume designer Jacqueline Durran has deliberately dyed the dress to give it a jewel-bright green color.
Not as classic as black, more subtle than red, the charm of the green skirt is that its tone is always so unexpected, and all this makes it more influential.
Let's take a look back at some of the most memorable green dresses in the movie.
Heidi Rama in Samson and Dalila (1949)
Legendary costume designer Edith Head was credited with the work of Cecil Head. Cecil B DeMille won an Oscar for his designs in his films, including this bold green two-piece dress with gold trims and designed for delilah, the ultimate sexy goddess.
Tibby Headley in Birds (1963)
Long before Dakota Johnson became Gucci's muse, her grandmother Tippi Hedren was already a blonde beauty at Hitchcock, wearing a pale green tight dress and matching jacket. Hitchcock is thought to have asked for a green suit to make Headley's character Melanie Daniels different from the rest of the cast. Decades later, Melanie's suit is still one of the most prominent outfits in the history of cinema and a great Halloween outfit.
Gwyneth Paltrow, "Great Expectations" (1998)
Technically, it's not a dress, but the green skinny piece paltrow wore when he played Estella in Roma director Alfonso Cuarón's work is a visually gorgeous interpretation of charles Dickens's classic image, now as perfect as ever.
Salma Hayek, Frida (2002)
Arguably, Frida Kahlo's style is easier to identify than her paintings. The artist adopted the traditional costumes of the Zapotec people of the Teventpec Peninsula in Mexico, an area known for its matriarchal society dominated by women. Costume designer Julie Weiss, who was nominated for an Oscar for "Frida," drew inspiration from the artist's favorite color palette to design a costume, such as the traditional green dress that Kahlo wore in the film when she married muralist Diego Rivera, who had not worn a European-style white dress before.
Zhang Ziyi, "Ten Faces Ambush" (2004)
Costume designer Emi Wada said the idea of a hat worn by Zhang Ziyi in a bamboo forest scene "popped into my head," and she made the hat in the weaving style of her hometown of Kyoto. Coupled with Xiaomei's vibrant green dress, this scene became a prominent moment in Zhang Yimou's visual masterpiece.
Kayla Knightley," Atonement
The film, adapted from Ian McEwan's novel by Joe Wright, is heartbreakingly beautiful, but no scene is as memorable as Cecilia rushing to the Talis family's library in that dress.
Emma Stone, "Philharmonic City"
In Damien Chazelle's colorful films that pay homage to old Hollywood, color plays a key role. The emerald green dress Mia wore in the planetarium scene was inspired by a dress worn by Judy Garland in the 1954 edition of A Star Is Born.
Lupita Niyong's Black Panther (2018)
Costume designer Ruth M. Ruth E Carter designed green costumes for Nyong'o'o's character, Nakia, to reflect the river tribe to which she belonged, and she was inspired by the Ethiopian Suri. She described the casino scenes from Black Panther as Nakia's "Bond Girl Moment." Sexy and not revealing, her turtleneck dress is made of Kent cloth and covered with Wakanda script. Carter also designed an unrestricted skirt because the epic fight scenes meant that Nakia had to be able to move around wearing it (her shoes also came in handy and were unforgettable).