Dress the Part: <em>The Great Gatsby</em>

by Alexandra Macon, Vogue

There's no Dress the Part we've been more impatient to feature than The Great Gatsby: As the release of Baz Luhrmann's years-in-the-making superstylized adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Great American Novel draws near, we could wait no more. So while we can only speculate on Carey Mulligan's turn in Luhrmann's take on this classic, today we pay homage to the original, the 1974 film starring Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanan and Robert Redford as Gatsby, decked out in iconic costume designs by Theoni V. Aldredge.

You know the story: The setting is Long Island at the height of the Roaring Twenties. Young Midwesterner Nick Carraway stumbles into a foreign world of flappers, bootleggers, social climbers, and all that jazz--Art Deco jewelry, newly shorn bobs, feathers, and pearls are all the rage. Old money is pitted against new, and Jay Gatsby--the ultimate enigma--is spinning lies and throwing parties in an effort to transcend his class and get the girl (the one that's always been too good for him). He's after the American dream after all. Only one thing's for certain, Gatsby and Daisy are flawed romantic figures, and like most of Fitzgerald's bright young things, they're both beautiful and damned--but their clothes live on. With summer on the horizon and visions of Daisy and Gatsby basked in that symbolic green light dancing in our heads, here is inspiration to further fuel your fashion fantasies.