27 DRESSES 2008

Directed by ANNE FLETCHER, written by ALINE BROSH MCKENNA (the adaptation for the critical and commercial success “The Devil Wears Prada”), cast: KATHERINE HEIGL, JAMES MARSDEN, MALIN AKERMAN, JUDY GREER,...

The comedy is about the wedding junkie Jane who shuttles between wedding receptions in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Therefore she has a closet full of 27 bridesmaid dresses....

The dress selection process for this film was like solving a puzzle. “Initially we had fifty outfits, so we’d lose one dress and push another into something that was a little funnier, maybe adding lace or a hat,” costume designer Catherine Marie Thomas elaborates. “After we arranged them to the point where we were happy with assortment, we realized to our chagrin that we were three dresses over, and had to eliminate more.”
Katherine Heigl’s (Emmy® award winner for her starring role as a surgical
resident in “Grey’s Anatomy”) favorite outfit was what she calls the “Gone with the Wind” dress, an outfit that would have done Scarlett O’Hara proud. The dress, also known as “Plantation Wedding,” was made of yellow silk with orange flowers and orange ribbon lacing. It was accessorized with a straw bonnet with orange trim and grosgrain ribbon tie, a white lace parasol with orange ties, and bright yellow heels. “For the ‘Gone with the Wind’ wedding, we built everything, including eight gigantic hoop dresses, all different colors,” she says.

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Chicago native CATHERINE MARIE THOMAS is an alumna of Chicago Academy for the Arts and Kansas City Art Institute. She began her professional career as a designer in the costume shop at The Julliard School. Nominated for two prestigious Costume Designers Guild Awards for feature film, Thomas is featured in Deborah Nadoolman Landis’ A Century of Hollywood Costume, Harper Collins, 2007.

Collaborations: Catherine Marie Thomas has collaborated with Quentin Tarantino (“Kill Bill” Vol. 1 & 2), Robert Altman (“A Prairie Home Companion”), Neil Jordan (“The Brave One”), Richard Shepard (“The Matador”), Richard Linklater (“Tape”) Ethan Hawke (“The Hottest State,”” Chelsea Wall”) and “27 Dresses” star Edward Burns (“Purple Violets,” “The Groomsmen,” “Ash Wednesday,” “Sidewalks of New York”).

photos: Jane (Katherine Heigl) © 2007 Twentieth Century Fox