Eight of the Most Unforgettable Green Dresses in Film

More than a decade has passed since cinema-goers watched Keira Knightley’s fateful encounter with James McAvoy on a languorous summer’s night in Atonement (2007), but the memory of Cecilia Tallis’s backless dress – which the Oscar-winning costume designer Jacqueline Durran had specially dyed to achieve that vivid, jewel-like shade of green – lives on. 

Keira’s wisp of a ’30s gown now forms part of the garment’s rich lineage in film. Not as classic as black, more subtle than red, the power of a green dress lies in the fact that the shade is ever so slightly unexpected – and all the more impactful for it. 

As Kate Moss appears on one of two covers of the January 2021 issue of British Vogue in a green Dior dress, look back at some of the most unforgettable green dresses in film.  

Hedy Lamarr in Samson and Delilah (1949)

Don’t tell Emily Ratajkowski, but Hedy Lamarr was midriff-flossing some 70 years before the Insta girls. The legendary costume designer Edith Head won an Oscar for her work on Cecil B DeMille’s movie, which included this daring green two-piece trimmed in gold for the ultimate seductress, Delilah. 

Tippi Hedren in The Birds (1963)

Long before Dakota Johnson was a Gucci muse, her grandmother Tippi Hedren was the ultimate Hitchcock blonde in her pale green sheath dress and matching jacket. Hitchcock is thought to have requested a green ensemble to set Hedren’s character, Melanie Daniels, apart from the rest of the cast. It worked. Decades on, Melanie’s suit remains one of the most instantly identifiable looks in the history of film – and a great Halloween look. 

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