By: Anna Chuang
On July 15, the new film Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris was released. It is based on the novel, Flowers for Mrs. Harris, by Paul Gallico. It demonstrates the power of what people wear, how much a dress can change someone, and how often we see this in our classic fairytales and stories.
The film starring, Lesley Manville, is about a woman in London named Ada Harris who cleans houses for many wealthy clients. One day, she was cleaning a Madam’s bedroom, and saw a beautiful gown that caught her eye. It was an extravagant 500-quid Christian Dior gown. Ada was so determined and had such a strong desire for the dress that she worked extra hard and non-stop to save up the money she needs to go to Paris and buy her dream dress.
Seeing the dress was like she was struck by a spell. There are so many classic fairytales that we are all familiar with that have the same theme of how a piece of clothing could change someone. For example, the well-known classic fairytale Cinderella shows how Cinderella was able to attend the ball because she wore a beautiful dress. She would never have been able to catch the prince’s attention if she came in rags.
According to BBC Culture, Hilary Davidson, a fashion historian, says, “Magic is inherently about transformation. Clothing is also the easiest way for humans to transform, disguise, reveal, and become apparently more or less than they are. Clothing is our second skin, our socio-cultural skin, and determines a large amount of how others perceive us. To use clothing to change our appearance is, on some level, and enchanted act.” Other than someone’s personalities, someone’s visual appearance is also something that people take notice of when it comes to first impressions. But sometimes people put the importance of a good visual appearance ahead of personalities.
So many movies and stories involve characters that are captivated by a perfect garment. Most people care about how they look and want to make the best impression to everyone by wearing something beautiful that looks good on them. This fairytale theme of transforming someone’s life with a dress has never died.