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Cinematical Seven: Keira Knightley's Costume Pics

by Jeffrey M. Anderson Sep 18th 2008 // 9:03PM

Filed under: Fandom, Cinematical Seven



When it was announced that Keira Knightley would be starring in the new film The Duchess, complete with all kinds of period dresses, folds, furbelows, corsets, bodices, hoops, ringlets, hats, big hair and heaven knows what else, the general response was: "what, again?" We can only guess whether Keira herself said the same thing, or if she simply took to the new costume like a beautiful, slender swan to water. Here's a rundown of Keira's other period, costume epics, ranging from worst to best:

7. Silk (2007)
Keira's most snore-inducing movie, though it's a close call. She plays Hélène Joncour, who has virtually nothing to do while her hubby is off having adventures in exotic lands. Her costumes are merely plain, with the occasional straw hat. If I remember correctly, she sometimes wears gardening gloves. Yawn.

6. Doctor Zhivago (2002)
Playing the bourgeois-born Lara, Keira got to wear ultra-romantic big fur hats and headscarves in this TV movie. How better to seduce the lucky doctor? All she needed was some big fuzzy "Ugg" boots.




5. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Cast in a teeny, tiny, blink-and-you'll-miss-her bit part, her "Sabé" was probably her most extensive, excessive makeup-and-costume job, with a blue-white face, hundreds of little dots and decorations and a teetering headdress. It looks as if she had to try not to lean too far to any one side...

4. Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Keira's Elizabeth Bennet looked unsurprisingly like most other actresses in Jane Austen movies, wearing dresses that are simultaneously pretty and unflattering, making it appear as if their waists began just below their breasts. The best part about Jane Austen dresses is that they tend to track mud all over the place, giving the women an impression of ruggedness. This one received an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design.

3. King Arthur (2004)
This is another of Keira's worst movies, but her Guinevere still gets to wear some ridiculously appealing costumes. Her battle gear basically consists of a few straps, so that she can fire off her arrows without getting them caught in any folds or cuffs. When it gets cold, the movie allows her a bright red cloak, which also looks pretty good.

2. Atonement (2007)
It's World War II getups for Cecilia Tallis, ranging from her dazzling, green, quasi-flapper dress and jewel-studded bracelet in the film's opulent first half (not to mention her wet underthings after her dive into the fountain), to more modest Rosie-the-Riveter garb in the dreary second half. Oddly this is only the second of Keira's movies to receive an Oscar nomination for Costume Design.

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
This is Keira's ultimate costume movie. As Elizabeth Swann, she gets to look beautiful instead of severe or dumpy, she gets to run around with boys, but best of all, we get the great "corset" scene. Her corset is so tight (even on her -- what -- 20-inch waist?) that she blacks out and falls over the edge of a castle, necessitating her rescue by a dashing hero. That has to the ultimate comment -- and the final word -- on costume movies. (Let's forget the expensive, lifeless sequels, which, besides sitting there and doing nothing, also had the unfortunate ability to suck the soul from the original.)

Note: Keira also starred in a 1999 TV miniseries of "Oliver Twist," which was bound to have some hardscrabble, scruffy, cold-weather costumes, but I was unable to see it or find any stills from it. I should add that her punk costume in Domino (2005), with its short haircut, leather pants and various bad-girl accoutrements, is also deserving of a mention.

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