3. Atonement (2007)
Keira Knightley‘s green dress, the very dress which was voted “Best Costume Of All Time” by Sky Movies and In Style magazine, has to be considered. Jacqueline Durran indeed excelled in costume design with her creation of the slinky silk dress, creating the dress from scratch. The green emerald dress actually has several tones of colour, such as green organza and green chiffon, and Lin black. Director Joe Wright specifically wished to stay true to the original novel by Ian McEwan, and the gown is very significant in the literature for illustrating indication of character. Green is thought to symbolize temptation, which alludes to the theme of temptation that is prominent throughout Cecilia and Robbie’s, (Knightley and McAvoy’s) love affair. However, the colour green denotes any direct connotations and definition, and is often contradictory, and therefore is mysterious, and as such, by proxy, so becomes Cecelia. This was a conscious decision made by Durran in the design process. Its mysterious, multifaceted beauty add to the romanticism of the dress and serves to heighten the romanticism of the novel’s running love story.
