25 iconic outfits from film history

Twentieth Century Fox Costuming is one of the most unsung aspects of the movie industry. For the most part, when it’s done right, the viewer hardly even notices it. A beautiful, period-appropriate, Gilded Age gown, for example, only helps sink the viewer further into a story about the turn of the 20th-century woman. It’s when the costuming is done poorly, when it doesn’t match the time and space and pulls us from the world, that we tend to take note of it. Once in a while, however, an outfit stands out for all the right reasons. Maybe a certain outfit perfectly encapsulates a character’s identity. Or it’s just a stunning, well-crafted piece of clothing. Or maybe the ensemble inspires trends beyond the cinema and begins to affect how we dress in real life (a la “Bridgerton” costumes). To celebrate these outstanding moments in costuming, Stacker dug into fashion in film history to highlight 25 of the most iconic outfits ever to grace the silver screen. From Audrey Hepburn’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” dress to Uma Thurman’s “Kill Bill” getup and everything in between, these looks live in our minds rent-free. You may also like: Incredible filming locations from popular movies Audrey Hepburn’s little black dress Paramount Pictures // Getty Images Say what you will about Holly Golightly’s morals, but there’s no denying the “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” socialite was an absolute fashion plate. Her most iconic outfit comes right at the film’s start–the “little black dress” she pairs with pearls, a croissant, and a cup of takeout coffee to look at Tiffany’s window displays. Designed by Hubert de Givenchy, the dress is made of Italian silk and has been described as a perfect example of 1960s fashion–chic, delicate, sensual, and Parisian. All told, there were three versions of the dress: one that sits in Givenchy’s archives, one in a Madrid museum, and one that sold to a private collector at auction for $800,000 in 2007. Grace Kelly’s white, strapless gown Carolco Pictures The film “Basic Instinct” is widely praised for the groundbreaking way it depicts sex and sexuality. A prime example of this revolutionary approach is the dress Sharon Stone’s Catherine Tramell wears–or, rather, what she doesn’t wear–while under police interrogation. The white, high-necked, sleeveless dress she dons was designed to allow Stone to sit and move like a man, acting decisions that felt very in line with the essence of the character. In 2022, Stone told InStyle that she’d kept the dress but hadn’t tried it on since filming wrapped. Olivia Newton-John’s black spandex pants Paramount Pictures According to Alicia Silverstone, who played Cher Horowitz in “Clueless,” the costume designer had three color options for the Dolce & Gabbana plaid suit she wears near the film’s beginning. Ultimately, they decided to go with yellow because they felt it was most appropriate for the scene. As for where the suit is today, Silverstone tells Vogue no one knows; it’s been lost to the annals of Hollywood. You may also like: Most widely watched but universally hated movies of all time Julia Roberts’ red gown and white gloves Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Back in 2010, the University of Texas raised $30,000 to restore the green “curtain” dress Vivien Leigh wore as Scarlett O’Hara in the 1939 film “Gone with the Wind.” In the movie, Scarlett tears down the curtains in her living room and uses the material to make a dress meant to impress Rhett Butler. In real life, the gown wasn’t made of actual curtains but of green velvet treated to look aged and sun-worn. Some 70 years later, the dress was literally falling apart at the seams because, as one conservationist told NPR, it was only made to last for as long as it took to film the movie. You may also like: 50 best movies about the Vietnam War Sarah Jessica Parker’s wedding gown Touchstone // Getty Images The maximalist style in “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion” is iconic across the board, but the pink and blue metallic minidresses Lisa Kudrow and Mia Sorvino’s characters wear near the end of the movie really stand out. Ironically, the fashion moment almost didn’t happen. The film’s costume designer, Mona May, had originally planned to put Kudrow in a flowy, pink chiffon number, but the comedian pushed for something that looked more like Sorvino’s outfit to illustrate the friends’ closeness and unity. Diane Keaton’s menswear mashup Bettmann // Getty Images Woody Allen had so much faith in Diane Keaton’s ability to portray Annie Hall that he gave her almost free rein to compose the character exactly how she wanted; that included creating Annie’s costumes. The classic menswear mashup she wears in one of the film’s first scenes was entirely Keaton’s own creation and was very much a play on her personal sense of style. Rumor has it that the “Annie Hall” costume designer, Ruth Morley, hated many of the outfits Keaton put together, including this one, but we’re glad Allen overruled her–the costume inspired an entire movement in women’s fashion. Whitney Houston’s futuristic stage costume Sunset Boulevard // Corbis via Getty Images Elizabeth Taylor wore over 65 costumes in “Cleopatra,” the film that would spark her infamous affair with Richard Burton and make her the highest-paid woman in the world. But the one that stands out the most is, without a doubt, her gold, phoenix-inspired getup. The bird on the cape is made of 24-karat gold and decorated with thousands of beads. Taylor’s outfits cost the film $194,800 on costumes (the largest budget for a single actor’s wardrobe in film history). It was auctioned off for a whopping $59,365 in 2012. Marilyn Monroe’s hot pink gown