River's Maidenhead Dress

POSTED BY: shameless
UPDATED: Sunday, March 22, 2009 22:48
VIEWED: 11988
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SHAMELESS

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 4:34 PM

Help! Does anybody happen to know what brand the actual dress used in the movie is?

Anyways.
So I found something on Ebay...

http://cgi.ebay.com/R-M-Richards-NEW-Blue-Floral-Dresses-NWT-Sz-10P-11
9_W0QQitemZ130135465681QQihZ003QQcategoryZ63871QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I know that it's not THE dress, but it's the closest match I have found so far, since if you look very closely, there is actually a floral pattern on River's dress - it's just difficult to tell since it's dark and sheer.

EDIT: Another possibility...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ANN-TAYLOR-BLUE-SILK-FLORAL-DRESS-SZ-4-118_W0QQite
mZ230153595147QQihZ013QQcategoryZ63861QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

And yet another...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Expressions-11-12-turquoise-blue-floral-slvless-dr
ess_W0QQitemZ120142529015QQihZ002QQcategoryZ3061QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

Again:

http://cgi.ebay.com/COCKTAIL-CRUISE-BLUE-FLORAL-LAYERED-DRESS-3_W0QQit
emZ220114671396QQihZ012QQcategoryZ63861QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Lalala.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-GORGEOUS-Fitted-BLUE-DRESS-w-Beaded-STRAPS-LGE
_W0QQitemZ330146356747QQihZ014QQcategoryZ3061QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

------------------------------------------
RPG launcher bought in third world country illegally - $10
Landmines - $50 per
Attack/track dogs bred 1st class - $250-500 per
Highpowered assault rifles - $600 per
The look on your face when I show up on your doorstep with a bigfoot - ... Priceless

"You gotta love that the first pirated HD DVD is the one about space pirates who broadcast a video that the government wants to keep secret.

Can't stop the signal."
-reavers_ate_my_dvd

EMMARIGBY

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 5:10 PM

Not sure, but if you want to buy the original...
http://www.propstore.com/product-River--Summer-Glau--Maidenhead-Bar-Dr
ess.htm

___________________
Hissssssssss!

BENIHIME

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 5:20 PM

Those are very nice, but I think they are too light.
Here's another version from The Prop Store of London:

http://www.propstore.com/product-River-Maidenhead-Bar-Dress.htm

If you look at all the pictures, you can see the seaming details pretty well.

They say there's no size marked on this dress, so it could have been a custom design. It appears as though on some of the other dresses, they'll say what size it is if it's a store-bought dress but they'll leave out the manufacturer's name (like the funeral dress, the final reaver fight scene dress, and the view pad dress...).

THEVOICEINMYHEAD

Friday, July 20, 2007 6:37 PM

Spce City Costumes
Crazy Girl Dress
http://www.spacecitycostumes.com/index.php?cPath=21&products_id=51&opt
ion=com_oscommerce&osMod=product_info&osCsid=93af54bb41753bdb278422fdae10bde

Madness does not always howl. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "Hey, is there room in your head for one more?"

Browncoats are forever

SHAMELESS

Friday, July 20, 2007 9:41 PM

Haha, crazy girl dress - awesome! Sadly, it's way too expensive... I think I'll just make one myself. Just gotta find some material. And a pattern. Or make my friend sew it for me.

------------------------------------------
RPG launcher bought in third world country illegally - $10
Landmines - $50 per
Attack/track dogs bred 1st class - $250-500 per
Highpowered assault rifles - $600 per
The look on your face when I show up on your doorstep with a bigfoot - ... Priceless

"You gotta love that the first pirated HD DVD is the one about space pirates who broadcast a video that the government wants to keep secret.

Can't stop the signal."
-reavers_ate_my_dvd

SHAMELESS

Friday, July 27, 2007 6:22 AM

Okay, another question... what material is it made of? Anybody know for sure?

------------------------------------------
RPG launcher bought in third world country illegally - $10
Landmines - $50 per
Attack/track dogs bred 1st class - $250-500 per
Highpowered assault rifles - $600 per
The look on your face when I show up on your doorstep with a bigfoot - ... Priceless

"You gotta love that the first pirated HD DVD is the one about space pirates who broadcast a video that the government wants to keep secret.

Can't stop the signal."
-reavers_ate_my_dvd

WHITESILENCE

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 4:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by shameless:
Okay, another question... what material is it made of? Anybody know for sure?

Obviously, I don't know for sure but I'm thinking some sort of chiffon? At least for the floaty over dress part.

DEEPLYKIDDING

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 5:20 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by whitesilence:
Quote:
Originally posted by shameless:
Okay, another question... what material is it made of? Anybody know for sure?

Obviously, I don't know for sure but I'm thinking some sort of chiffon? At least for the floaty over dress part.

Yup - almost positive it is chiffon, and its cut on the bias to allow for drape & fit. On one of the back photos you can see a diagonal seam which was necessary to piece the fabric together. I'm also guessing that the chiffon does not have stretch (spandex or other) in it, as the seams are pretty smooth. Very interesting that the overdress is hemmed in white thread and not matching!

My best educated guess is that the underdress is some sort of knit material, probably a jersey of pretty good quality, since it has clean lines and doesn't appear stretched or distorted. Poor quality jersey can stretch out of shape when worn, even if only pulling it on over a mannequin. I wasn't able to see if the underdress had any seams, which led me to believe knit. This would have also allowed Summer Glau a lot of freedom of movement during the fight, although I don't know how it sayed in place. Maybe it has attached panties to anchor it in place, functioning like sturrups on a pair of pants to keep them tucked into boots.

I'd rather be a smartass than a dumbass...

ARTCAT81

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 6:21 PM

From what I understand, the original dress(es) did not have a label in them, but
I strongly suspect after much ebay surfing (shameless amounts) I ran across this baby http://cgi.ebay.com/ICE-BLUE-WHITE-SILK-FLORAL-LINED-DRAPED-DRESS-8-NW
T-98_W0QQitemZ110151695384QQihZ001QQcategoryZ63861QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

here is my theory, most of the costumes from Serenity or may be not most but an amazing amount were straight off the rack designer dresses from that season even (Hey Joss, I know how to shave that movie budget several thousand bucks!)
I think the costume department picked this dress up, or rather this cut by this company, the label is "ICE" (which if anyone happens to track down I would be very appreciateive) I have found this dress in several different colors with different floral patterns and it is chiffon.

ok so they bought the dress, dyed it deep blue (which explains why the hemline is white, it did not take the dye) and simplified the neck from a cowl neck to a simple V which also explains its low cut. The underdress that is used in some scenes but not others, appears to be the underdress sold with it. again dyed deep blue and with some alterations.

This is just my working theory and i have not had the money to justify buying a dress that wont fit me just so I can try to make it into Rivers Dress. Another browncoat from another thread has bought the dress and I'm waiting to see how it turns out for her.

If its not the exact pattern used in the movie, the design is very close, check out the seams.

as for how she kept the underdress in place during hte fight scenes, simple, she was not wearing it,notice how there are two of her dress available for sale, one with the underdress the other with just undies? I think the one with the undies is the fight scene, the one with the undress is from the other scenes and closeups where the camera can actually focus in on her.

Also reasonably certain the dress is chiffon.
Hope that helps!
-artcat

Browncoats are the shiniest folks in the 'verse
www.texasartcat.com/bluesun.html <--my bluesunshop

WHITESILENCE

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 8:48 PM

Quote:

My best educated guess is that the underdress is some sort of knit material, probably a jersey of pretty good quality, since it has clean lines and doesn't appear stretched or distorted. Poor quality jersey can stretch out of shape when worn, even if only pulling it on over a mannequin. I wasn't able to see if the underdress had any seams, which led me to believe knit. This would have also allowed Summer Glau a lot of freedom of movement during the fight, although I don't know how it sayed in place. Maybe it has attached panties to anchor it in place, functioning like sturrups on a pair of pants to keep them tucked into boots.

I was thinking some sort of spandex/blend material, the kind of stuff camis and things are made out of. Skintight but still allows a great deal of movement. Also, if you can find the film still where River is on the pantry ceiling with the can of peaches, you can get a really good look at the seams in both parts of the dress. There's at least one slit on the right side of the underdress.

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