What did Myrtle Wilson wear?

**Disclaimer**

This is not going to be your normal movie review. This is going to be the Redhead in the movie review!

**End of disclaimer** 

The other weekend we went to see The Great Gatsby. What a great movie! I love the story, and the film adaptation was great. The light, the scene, the costumes - everything except the music and that's only because I personally don't like Jay Z. Otherwise five stars out of five! I was excited before the movie because I am usually not a fan of movies based on books, especially books that I know and like. And I was hoping the Great Gatsby will be an exception.
In this case, I was excited about one more particular thing. I wanted to see what will be Isla Fisher wearing! To see a redhead in a movie is super rare, so let's take a look at her portrayal of Myrtle Wilson and the fashion of the Roaring Twenties (I am sure by this point everyone has seen the movie and I am not going to reveal any secrets about what is going to happen...).

See the Cupid's Bow on her lips?  

Myrtle is supposed to be curvaceous and feminine and BOLD and sexual and a total opposite of bland and blah Daisy and although I don't think that Myrtle in the book was supposed to be a Redhead, Isla is and therefore Myrtle was. Myrtle was also supposed to be a little more heavier than Isla is, but I guess it's not easy to find a plump actress.

Even though the movie was pretty close to the original, Myrtle's outfits were totally left to the imagination of the director and costume designer, who, interestingly, are husband and wife! In the handful of scenes we could indulge in her cream skin and fiery red locks, Myrtle was wearing a couple of different dresses, not really flapper-ish, but bold, colorful and full of movement. So, what was their approach to redhead fashion?

When we meet her for the first time, walking down the stairs in her husband's garage, Myrtle is wearing a printed beige dress with green and red accents with a green bow on her hair. I am not a fan of this particular dress, but it made her look very dominant and attractive.

However, the book describes Myrtle wearing a "spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de chine", that would definitely look great on a Redhead. I must admit I was not familiar with what crepe-de chine is, but simple googling revealed that Myrtle's dress would look something like this:

I am so in love with this Navy Blue Polka Dot Crepe de Chine Tea Dress. It's not the right style for the Gatsby era, but gorgeous and totally wearable.

Next outfit that adorned Myrtle's wide hips (Gatsby said it!) was brown muslin dress, "which stretched tight over her rather wide hips”. Myrtle-Turtle was a curvy girl! And I honestly can't imagine anyone looking good in something like this...

At the party we see Myrtle dance around in a red dress with elaborate ruffles, big fabric flower and loud bangles on her wrists. She looks full of life, but also very sexi with peeking bra and seductive makeup. I know she is just supposed to be a poor wife of a mechanic, with her cheap, tacky tight and provocative clothes and bold makeup, but I could not stop looking at her unique clothes!

Myrtle from the pages of the book was wearing “an elaborate afternoon dress of cream-colored chiffon", that must have been absolutely stunning. I can imagine a redhead looking much better in a cream colored dress, especially highlighting her red hair and freckles on her skin. For a more modern version head over to Modcloth.

Tragically, poor Myrtle dies in a car crash, under the wheels of a fancy car driven by nobody else but her nemesis Daisy, who did not even knew Myrtle or her relationship to her her husband. She is wearing just a robe and that's it. Ouch.

 
Myrtle's clothes were appropriate to the tone of the movie, even though they were not true to the book, true to the era and totally not realistic given her class and available resources to purchase good looking clothes. Catherine Martin, the costume designer, had won an Academy Award for her costume designs for Moulin Rouge. She is great in bringing the historical fashion and mixing it with concepts of contemporary fashion, but I almost wish she would show Myrtle in the blue dress. I applaud the decision to put Isla in bold red dress and even more that they did not require her do wear a wig or color her hair or to do something else outrageous to her gorgeous red hair.
What are your thoughts? What would Myrtle Wilson wear, if you had a say in it?

XOXO,
The European Redhead