Description. A custom-made full-length fitted evening gown of nude souffle. The gown is constructed of a fitted bodice and full-length sleeves and entirely beaded with minute gold bugle beads and ornamented with a band of rhinestones at neckline.

The 1942 classic film Holiday Inn was famously shot in black and white, making the true color of Linda Mason's (played by Marjorie Reynolds) iconic New Year's Eve dress a subject of historical debate. However, the original gown designed by the legendary Edith Head was described in costume records as being made of nude-colored "soufflé" (a fine silk mesh) and heavily embellished with gold bugle beads and rhinestones. Because the film was later "colorized" multiple times, audiences have seen the dress depicted in various shades, ranging from a vivid sea-foam green to a light pink or even a bluish-white. The most historically accurate interpretation, based on the physical costume remnants and Edith Head's design notes, is a shimmering gold or champagne hue. This "gold New Year's dress" was intended to catch the studio lights and create a high-contrast, glamorous sparkle that would translate beautifully into the high-glamour grayscale cinematography of the early 1940s.