This Edwardian-style gown was created for the Ascot π scene in the original 1956 Broadway production of the Lerner and Loewe musical π΄π ππππ π³ππ π. πΆ The scene was filled with beautiful gowns, all in black and white, in keeping with the famous βBlack Ascotβ of 1910, when King Edward VII died β°shortly before the event, making it inappropriate to wear color. Thus, those who attended wore all black, aside from accents of white from pearls and flowers. Β The gown was designed by Cecil Beaton and executed by Helene Pons based on his sketches. Cecil's notes indicate the piece was most likely worn by Melisande Congdon. Β When Truman Capote decided to throw his famous βBlack and White Ball,β β« βͺ β he used the scene from π΄π ππππ π³ππ π as its inspiration. Deborah Davisβ wonderful book π»ππ π·ππππ ππ πππ πͺππππππ mentions that much of the gossip about town was about βwhoβ everyone would wear. Amanda Carter Burden, daughter of Babe Paley, π¦’ was able to sidestep this conversation and not commit to any one designer when she chose a gown from the film π΄π ππππ π³ππ π. Β But was her gown from the film adaptation of π΄π ππππ π³ππ π? Amanda was based in New York City, π and it would have been far easier for her to obtain one of the costumes from the Broadway show. In addition, no costume in the film accurately matches the one she wore to the ball. Β In 2015, the dress from the Broadway production went up for sale, selling for $1280. It contains a lace dickey that the auction house noted has been added post-production. The dickey is clearly visible on Amanda Carter in the Black and White Ball photo. π· While I cannot confirm for certain that she is wearing the dress from the stage production rather than the film production, I am confident that she is.
