Scarlett O'Hara outfit

Scarlett O'Hara outfit The real inspiration for creativity is the dresses of Scarlett O'Hara from the film Gone with the Wind.

The novel “Gone with the Wind” has been read and re-read by young ladies with rapture and bated breath for more than 80 years in almost all countries of the world. The film based on this book was a success - it won 8 Oscars and gained worldwide fame, which it has not lost to this day.

Despite the most interesting life story of the main character - Scarlett O'Hara, the story of creating a wardrobe, clothes for her is almost of the same interest. Dresses absolutely repeat the style and styles worn by ladies at the end of the 19th century and are included in the lists of the best, most reliable and expensive costumes in the cinema.

Don't you remember how Scarlett got her green velvet dress? What dress did she wear to her wedding to Charles Hamilton? After all, this dress gives the impression that it is big for the heroine Vivien Leigh and has long gone out of fashion. It turns out that this was intended to show the quick organization of the wedding, and the dress itself was sewn on Scarlett's "mother". And these small aspects, nuances and accents cannot be counted.

During the filming of the movie Gone with the Wind, the film director insisted that the actresses dress only in the fashion of the last century. To all the objections and disputes about the constant increase in costs, he answered very simply: "They must feel that era."

The producer of the film, David Selznick, added the finances that were missing to implement the ideas, which ensured the integrity and depth of perception of the picture. As a result, it turned out that only 31 outfits were made for Vivien Leigh. The actress was distinguished by a wasp waist, beautiful legs and a modest chest. And to add volume, dresses were sheathed with lace ruffles, and chest volume was given with cotton pads.
For all Scarlett's outfits, fabrics were selected very carefully. For a whole month, specialists chose and selected textures of fabrics, but modeling and making dresses took even more time.

Costume designer Walter Plunkett and Vivien Leigh on the set of the film

Walter Plunkett on the costumes of the painting

The outfits of the characters turned out to be stunning, as the director intended. Walter Plunkett, who was also a costume designer, said:

“I don't think it was my best film work or even the biggest thing I've done. But this picture, of course, will live forever, and the green dress too, because it makes history, it is probably the most famous costume in the history of cinema..

Scarlett O'hara green velvet dress

Currently, these dresses are stored at the Harry Ransome Center, which is located at the University of Texas.

However, time has a detrimental effect on everything, even on such bright, excellent and delightful dresses. Over the years, they have lost their original appearance. They are currently under restoration. To start it, the Center did not have the required $30,000. At the end of the summer of 2010, the Center turned to Gone with the Wind fans with a request to help and raise funds to update 5 outfits. People from 14 countries responded to the request, and before the end of August, the entire necessary amount was collected.

Before his death, Walter Plunkett independently restored Scarlett's outfits, which are stored in the David Selznick archive.

Nicole Villarreal, a graduate student at the University of Texas in Textile and Apparel Technology, spent more than six months researching Vivien Leigh's dresses. With the help of a microscope and reagents, all the subtleties of tailoring a dress, from seams to finishes, were studied. But, anyway, this did not help to save the details of each outfit and restore it. The veil and cap for the wedding dress are completely dilapidated and cannot be restored, because they were created from the finest materials that simply collapsed over time.

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the release of the film, in 2014 the Center hosted an exhibition where all the famous dresses were presented.

New life for old Scarlett outfits

Burgundy Scarlett dress in velvet and ostrich feathers

The most famous green velvet dress (You know that it was sewn from curtains - in spite of all life's difficulties?)

Dressing herself, without the help of Mammy, was difficult. But at last all the hooks were fastened, and, putting on a smart hat with feathers, Scarlett ran into Aunt Pitty's room to look in a large mirror. How lovely she looks! The rooster's feathers gave her a perky air, and the dull green velvet of her hat set off her eyes, and they seemed surprisingly bright, almost like emeralds. The dress was also of incomparable beauty - it looked extremely rich and elegant and at the same time noble! How wonderful to have a beautiful dress again. Scarlett was so delighted with her appearance - how good she is, how seductive! - that she suddenly leaned over and kissed her reflection in the mirror and immediately laughed at her own stupidity. She took Ellen's paisley shawl and threw it over her shoulders, but the colors of the old fabric had faded and did not match the moss-green dress, and Scarlett immediately looked somehow miserable. Then she opened Aunt Pitty's closet and, taking out a black cloak, which Pitty wore only on Sundays, threw it on. Then she put diamond earrings brought from Tara into her ears, and, throwing back her head, looked at what an impression it made. The earrings tinkled pleasantly - Scarlett liked it very much, and she decided to toss her head more often when she was with Rhett. Dancing earrings always attract the eye of a man and give a woman a perky look.

Over the years, the dress has lost its color and former splendor. A lot of work of restoration masters was put in order to restore it.

The "life" of this dress still brings inspiration to fashion designers and puppet masters.

Dress "With love for Tara"

This gorgeous dress is sewn from 33 meters of cotton fabric, decorated with lace, the skirt has 8 levels, and the belt with an elegant buckle is sewn from red velvet.

Even today, this outfit is so popular that Scarlett fans sew similar dresses for themselves.

This dress, in the photo below, is taken from the site of fans of this style, where girls show and try on these outfits.

Ashley's Last Kiss Dress

Scarlett doll in Ashley's Last Kiss dress Scarlett O'Hara funeral dress

This is the black dress Scarlett O'Hara wore in mourning when she was widowed at a young age of 17 and found out that she would only have to wear boring black dresses, disgusting veils of the same color, and no more jewelry.

On the last day of June, one of the most popular novels in American literature, Gone with the Wind, turned 77 years old. Exactly 77 years ago, this book was published and immediately became a bestseller.

The popularity of Margaret Mitchell's only novel, of course, interested producers and directors. And three years later, a two-part film was released on the screens, starring the brilliant Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable.

One of the important components of this film was the costumes of the characters. To make the actors feel completely in the era in which the film takes place, the creators of the picture ordered even the underwear of those times from the tailors. Personally for the heroine Scarlett, 31 dresses were sewn. And we will remember the 7 most beautiful of them in honor of the 77th anniversary of the novel.

Ruffles, flounces, puffed sleeves - many American women still order this dress in the style of O "Hara for proms and even for weddings. Perhaps this is not only one of the most beautiful, but also the most popular outfits of the heroine.

Not inferior in popularity and beauty and this dress with floral prints. It inspired designers for many years to come. And when the Scarlett O "Hara doll was released, she was presented in this particular dress.

For the heroine, dresses were of great importance, even during mourning, when all the heroes wore black outfits, her toilets differed from others in splendor and beauty.

Another one of Scarlett's most popular dresses is the monochrome striped outfit. This print gained popularity thanks to this dress. And the most beautiful part of the dress was its sleeves.

One of Scardette's favorite colors was green. Romantic outfits were also sewn to match the color of her eyes.

Scarlett's style has changed, and so have her outfits. She looked very sexy in a burgundy dress with feathers and a deep neckline.

Red velvet costumes were also created to transform Scarlett from a romantic girl into a femme fatale.

Do you like Scarlett's outfits?

) we talked about the dresses that Scarlet from the movie "Gone with the Wind" dressed up in her youth.

In the second part of the film Scarlett's outfits are getting more dramatic and less frivolous. The spoiled girl was left in the past, Scarlett had to go through too much, too much to face and overcome. She was already married, lost her second husband, saw the war, survived, fled Atlanta... She already understands herself a little more, knows her abilities and knows what she is ready for for the well-being of her family.

Mrs. Kennedy's red dress

We see this rather simple dress on Scarlett when she learns of the death of her second husband, Frank Kennedy.

Scarlett doll

But Scarlett's other red dress is much more famous - the very scandalous one in which she was forced to attend Ashley's birthday party. Right after rumors about their connection spread around the city.

This extravagant velvet outfit was decorated along the entire length with ostrich feathers, descending down from the bodice along the skirt, as well as large rubies. Complementing it were long silk gloves and an airy cape made of taffeta to match.

However, this chic dress was clearly not the best choice to go to Ashley Wilkes' birthday ball.

If Scarlett wanted to mitigate the rumors damaging her, she would have to choose her wedding dress, in which she married Charles. The fact is that in those days a wedding dress was not worn only once, as today.

After the wedding, the dress was worn at various balls and other entertainment events, if the owner of the dress wanted to make a special compliment to the hostess. The logic was: “Your party is so charming that I chose my best dress for it!” So, Scarlett could show her respect for Melanie, at the same time emphasize her image of a married respectable lady with just one gesture - by putting on her wedding dress.

Dress "Walking along Peach Street"

These types of dresses were quite popular and their variations are found in many fashion magazines.

Scarlett chose him for the image of a respectable lady walking with her husband and child near her house.

portrait dress

Perhaps this is Scarlett's most paradoxical dress, since it is present in the film only in a portrait that hangs over the fireplace in Scarlett and Rhett's house.

Illustration from the Parisian fashion magazine Les Modes Parisiennes, 1855

Notice the blue dress. The first thing that catches your eye compared to the "prototype" is the extreme simplicity of Scarlett's dress. Compared to previous illustrations of fashion books from the 1860s, we can see that the dress in the portrait can be considered modest (except for the deep neckline and bare shoulders).

In those days, rich, even excessive decoration of outfits was in fashion, everything went into business: lace, ribbons, flowers, frills.

Scarlett's blue portrait dress is so modest that it could even be considered unfashionable (such models could be worn five years earlier)!

But the main charm of this portrait: an amazing combination of deep velvet blue with a light airiness of lace and Scarlett's alabaster skin. The apparent simplicity of the dress only emphasizes the brilliant beauty of Scarlett.

Curtain dress

But perhaps the most memorable for all the spectators was the dress sewn from the green curtains of Scarlett's mother. Not only is it a beautiful work of Plunkett's genius, but even such a unique outfit has its own "prototype" in the fashion books of the 1860s.

However, it was not enough to come up with a sketch, the embodiment of this outfit required a lot of effort. So, for example, velvet fabric had to be artificially aged beforehand so that it looked like curtains that had faded in the sun. Although now, after so many years, the dress looks much more dilapidated.

Gone with the Wind Costume Restoration Fund dress

This dress perfectly expresses the nature of Scarlett, who finds any reserves so far untapped in order to achieve her goal, for the sake of the future, she does not regret the past.Wax figure of Vivien Leigh at Madame Tussauds

Do you have a favorite Scarlett dress?

Photo: iso (gwtwscrapbook.blogspot.ru), scarletonline, Harry Randsom Center

As I expected, my "what's your favorite movie costume?" poll was the green curtain dress made for Gone with the Wind. Since I promised to write about the winning outfit, here's a post for you.

Today it is difficult to imagine world cinema without the most famous hit of all time - the film "Gone with the Wind". In 2014, this film turns 75 years old. In this regard, it is planned to open a luxurious exhibition, where the highlight of the program will be the most famous dresses of Scarlett.

Such expositions are prepared in advance, so last year the organizers of the exhibition decided to look at the safety of the costumes and were horrified. Shortly before his death, the film's costume designer Walter Plunkett personally restored Scarlett's dresses for David Selznick's archive.

Walter Plunkett and Vivien Leigh filming

But years have passed and the once luxurious, colorful costumes today look deplorable: they have faded, everything is in some kind of incomprehensible spots and holes.

The famous cock feather headdress that complemented this dress was recently auctioned by D. Reynolds (along with, which I have already talked about).

But once it all started so well.

By the time the Gone with the Wind project began, Walter Plunkett was already a well-known and respected costume designer. Moreover, he had just recently made costumes for the film "Little Women" and knew the fashion of the 1860s well. However, after he officially began work, Plunkett spent another 4 months in libraries, studying documents, photographs from the Civil War. He has designed over 5,000 individual pieces of clothing for 50 main characters and thousands of extras.

Plunkett began with detailed sketches.

His own team then oversaw the tailoring, fittings, and so on. etc.

These costumes were made in tailoring workshops, which I also wrote about. The costumes came out sensational, just like Selznick wanted. Walter Plunkett said: "I don't think it was my best film work or even the biggest thing I've done. But this picture will certainly live on forever, and the green dress too, because it makes history, probably it is the most famous costume in the history of cinema."

After the premiere of the film, almost all of Scarlett's dresses participated in promotional campaigns, traveled all over America, and were exhibited in cinemas. Then for some time they were on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They were pulled on mannequins, stabbed with pins, hemmed and altered. The fabric was smoldering from old age and was torn at the attachment points of the bodice and skirt from the weight. The outfits have changed color after disinfecting procedures and endless dry cleaning.

In the early 1980s, the dresses found their way to the Harry Ransom Center, as part of the 5,000-case David O. Selznick archive. The Harry Ransom Center is a humanities research library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin. It immediately became clear that the costumes were in a terrible state. At the university they were kept in special boxes wrapped in papyrus paper.

In August 2010, the Center issued an appeal to fans of Gone With The Wind for assistance in saving the five costumes. Three weeks later, more than 600 people from all over the world sent $30,000 towards the restoration.

Nicole Villarreal, a graduate student at the University of Texas Textile and Apparel Technology, studied Scarlett's dresses for seven months: "It's like Bones and CSI. It's our own forensic investigation." Were examined under a microscope and with the help of reagents, all the seams and finishes of the dress.

The restorers decided not to restore its color, they believe that the faded spots are part of the history of the movie costume.

Project curator Steve Wilson believes that the public will still want to see the original dress: "It still has an incredible and powerful magnetism, regardless of its color."

By the way, in addition to the famous green, 4 more dresses are under restoration:
burgundy,

It did not suffer much, mostly stones were lost and, over time, feathers were added.

these are lead hem weights. They had to be replaced because they tore the worn lining.

Luxurious green robe,

Blue robe with black fox

"She was a charming sight, sitting in the company of Stewart and Brent Tarleton in the cool shade behind the pillars of the spacious porch of Tara - the vast estate of her father. It was 1861, a clear April day was waning. Scarlett's new dress, which went on twelve yards of muslin, hooped on her crinoline hoops, in perfect harmony with the morocco flats her father had just brought her from Atlanta. ".

"Which dress will make her especially irresistible in Ashley's eyes? Since eight o'clock in the morning she has been trying on one thing after another, and now she stood upset, depressed, in lace knickers, a corset and three puffy linen, trimmed with lace petticoats. And the rejected dresses were colorful piles silks, frills and ribbons piled up around her on the floor, on the bed, on the chairs.

The pink orgaidi dress with a long, bright red sash certainly suited her, but she had worn it last summer when Melanie came to Twelve Oaks, and she certainly could remember it. So, nothing will stop her from being sarcastic about this.

Black bombazine with puffed sleeves and a large stand-up lace collar favorably sets off her dazzling skin, but you can't help but admit that it ages her a little. Scarlett stepped anxiously to the mirror and peered into her sixteen-year-old face, as if afraid to see wrinkles or a flabby chin. But Melanie is so young and fresh - in no case should you appear older than your years near her.

The lilac striped muslin dress with large lace medallions and tulle flounces is beautiful, but not her style. Karrin, with her thin profile and colorless face, would look pretty in it, but she herself would look like a schoolgirl in this dress, and it’s not at all good to look like a schoolgirl next to the calm, dignified Melanie.

A checkered green taffeta dress, all in small frills trimmed around the edge with a green velvet ribbon, suited her incomparably, and in general it was her favorite dress - when she put it on, her eyes took on a completely emerald hue - but, alas, on the front on the bodice oil stain was clearly visible. Of course, one could disguise the stain by pinning a brooch, but who knows, maybe Melanie has a very keen eye.

So there were the gaudy chintz dresses that weren't smart enough for the occasion, either the ball gowns or the flowered green muslin she'd worn the day before. But it was more of an evening dress, not very suitable for a barbecue, with a deep neckline, almost like a ball gown, and tiny puffs instead of sleeves. And yet she saw no other way out than to opt for him."

“And then, one clear summer morning, a few weeks later, he reappeared with a colorful hatbox in his hand, and after making sure that there was no one in the house except Scarlett, he opened this cardboard box in front of her. There, wrapped in tissue paper , lay a hat, at the sight of which Scarlett cried out:

God, what a delight! - and snatched it from the cardboard.

She had not seen for so long, and even more so did not hold new clothes in her hands, she was so hungry for them that this hat seemed to her the most beautiful hat in the world. It was of dark green taffeta, lined with pale green moiré, and tied under the chin with the same pale green palm-wide ribbons. And around the fields of this creation of fashion, green ostrich feathers were laid in coquettish curls.

Put it on,” said Rhett Butler, smiling.

The moss-green velvet curtains caressed and tingled her cheek, and she rubbed herself blissfully against the fabric like a cat. And suddenly stared at the curtains.
A minute later she was dragging a heavy marble-topped table across the floor. Its rusted wheels creaked in protest. She rolled the table to the window, picked up her skirts, climbed on the table and stood on tiptoe to reach the massive cornice. It was too high up to him - she jerked the curtain sharply, so that the nails flew out, and the curtain with the cornice collapsed to the floor.

As if by a wave of a magic wand, the door to the living room opened a crack, and Mammy's black face appeared in the gap, exuding indefatigable curiosity and the greatest suspicion with every wrinkle. She looked accusingly at Scarlett, who was still standing on the table, her skirts pulled up above her knees to make it easier to jump to the floor. Scarlett was so excited and looked at Mammy with such a triumphant look that she immediately became worried.

"What are you planning to do with Miss Allyn's curtains?" she asked.
— What are you looking through the door crack? snarled Scarlett, jumping down to the floor and pulling the dusty, heavy velvet over her.
“What is there to spy on?” Mamushka answered, getting ready for battle. “You don’t need to dispose of Miss Ellin’s curtains - what are you thinking: the cornice has been torn off, and the curtains are lying in the dust. Miss Ellyn, oh, how she took care of them, these curtains, and I will not let you do this to them.
Scarlett turned her green eyes on Mammy, eyes that sparkled with merriment, just like in those distant days when she was a capricious little girl, which Mammy often recalled with a sigh.
- Come on, Mammy, run to the attic, bring me a box with patterns from there! shouted Scarlett, jumping up to Mammy and pushing her towards the door. "I'll sew my own dress!"
Mammy almost choked with indignation at the mere thought that her two hundred-pound carcass was being forced to rise somewhere, and even more so to the attic, but at the same time a terrible suspicion arose in her. She snatched the curtain from Scarlett's hands and, like a sacred relic, pressed it to her monumental pendulous chest.
“Are Miss Ellyn going to make her own dress out of the curtains?” No, that won't happen as long as I'm even a little bit alive.
An expression appeared on the face of the young mistress, which Mamushka would describe as follows: "Stubbed out like a bull." But it was immediately replaced by a smile, and this Mammy was hard to resist. However, this time the old woman did not fall for the bait. She realized that Miss Scarlett was only smiling to fool her, and she was determined not to back down.
“You don’t have to be so mean, Mammy. I'm going to Atlanta to raise money, and I need a new dress for this.
You don't need any new dresses. There are no ladies now who walk around in new dresses. They wear old ones and are very proud of it. Why would Miss Allyn's daughter dress differently - even when she walks in old clothes, everyone should respect her, as if she were in silks.
The stubborn expression returned to Scarlett's face. “Jesus Christ, this is wonderful: the older Miss Scarlett gets, the more she looks like Mr. Gerald, and less and less like Miss Allyn!” “Well, Mammy, you certainly know about Aunt Pitty’s letter. And she writes that Miss Fanny Elsing is getting married this Saturday, and of course I want to go to the wedding. And for that I need a new dress.
“Yes, this dress that you are wearing now will not yield to Miss Fanny's wedding dress in the least. Miss Pitty wrote that the Ellings were quite impoverished.
But I need a new dress! Mammy, you don't know how much money we need. Taxes…
“I know all about taxes, ma’am, but—”
- You know?
“So the Lord God endowed me with ears to hear, right? Well, Mr. Will never closes the door.
And how does Mammy always manage to hear everything? Just amazing, thought Scarlett, a heavy body that stomps so that the floor shakes, and when he wants to eavesdrop, creeps quietly, like a wild cat.
“Well, if you heard everything, then you also heard how Jonas Wilkerson and this Emmy of his ...
“Yes, ma’am, I heard,” Mammy said, her eyes sparkling.
“So don’t be stubborn like a mule, Mammy. Don't you understand that I need to go to Atlanta and get money to pay the tax? And you need a lot of money. I must do it! And she hit her fist with her fist. - By God, Mammy, they will throw us all out into the street, and where will we go then? Are you really going to bicker with me over some of my mother's curtains when that scum Amy Slattery, who killed her mother, is making plans to move into our house and sleep in her mother's bed?!
Mammy shifted the weight of her mighty body from one leg to the other, like an elephant at rest. She vaguely felt that they wanted to deceive her.
“No, ma’am, I don’t want to see this rubbish in Miss Ellin’s house or have us all put out on the street, but only ...” And she suddenly glared at Scarlett with a condemning look: “Who are you going to receive money from, what Do you suddenly need a new dress?
“And that,” said a somewhat dumbfounded Scarlett, “is my business.
Mammy looked at her piercingly, as in the old days, when Scarlett was small and tried in vain to justify her misdeeds. Mammy seemed to read her thoughts without difficulty, and Scarlett involuntarily lowered her eyes, for the first time feeling a pang of conscience because of her undertaking.
“So you need a beautiful new dress to borrow the money. Something is not right here. And for some reason you don't want to say where the money comes from.
“I don’t want to say anything about it at all,” Scarlett said indignantly. - It's my business. Will you give me the curtain and help me sew the dress?
"Yes, ma'am," Mammy said in a barely audible voice, giving up so suddenly that Scarlett immediately suspected something was wrong. “I’ll help you sew a dress, and from the satin lining, we must make you an underskirt and pantaloons with lace trim.” And with a sly smile, she handed the curtain to Scarlett. “Is Miss Melly going to Tlanta with you too, Miss Scarlett?”

"No," Scarlett snapped, beginning to realize what was in store for her. - I'm going alone.
"That's what you think," Mamushka said resolutely, "only you won't go anywhere alone in such a new dress." I will go with you. Yes, ma'am, and I will not leave you a single step. For a moment, Scarlett imagined going to Atlanta and talking to Rhett in the presence of a frowning Mammy, who, like a huge black guard, would follow her relentlessly. She smiled again and put her hand on Mammy's shoulder.
- Mommy, honey. How nice you are that you want to come with me and help me. But how will our people manage here without you? After all, you are the most important thing in Tara now.
- Well, really! - Mammy said. “Don't talk to me, Miss Scarlett. I've known you since the time I put the first diaper under you. Since I said that I would go with you to Tlanta, then I will go, and that's it. Yes, Miss Ellin will turn over in the coffin, if you go alone: ​​after all, in the city the full of Yankees and these free nigers, and indeed anyone is not there.
"But I'll stay with Aunt Pittypat," said Scarlett, losing patience.
“Miss Pitty is a very good woman, and of course she thinks she sees everything, but she doesn’t see anything beyond her nose,” Mammy said, turned with a majestic air, as if putting an end to it, and went out into the hall. A minute later, the walls trembled from her cry: - Prissy, honey! Run upstairs and bring back Miss Scarlett's sewing box of patterns from the attic. Grab a pair of sharp scissors and hurry so we don't have to wait here all night.
“Well, I got into the story! thought Scarlett, dejected. “It’s like taking a watchdog with you, or worse.”
After dinner, Scarlett and Mammy laid out the patterns on the table, while Syulyn and Karrin quickly tore off the satin lining from the curtains, and Melanie, after washing the hairbrush, began to clean the velvet. Gerald, Will and Ashley sat smoking and looking at this women's fuss with a smile. A joyous excitement emanating from Scarlett took possession of everyone, an excitement whose nature none of them could explain. Scarlett's cheeks were flushed, her eyes gleamed hard, and she laughed all the time. And everyone rejoiced at her laughter - after all, for many months no one had heard it. And it was especially pleasant for Gerald. With rejuvenated eyes, he followed her movements around the room, and each time she passed, he gently patted her side. The girls got excited, as if they were preparing for a ball: they tore off the lining and cut the velvet with such zeal, as if they were going to sew ball gowns for themselves.
Scarlett travels to Atlanta to borrow money or, at the very least, pawn Tara. Well, what's so terrible about it, even if you have to lay it down? Scarlett said that they would easily buy Tara from next year's harvest - they would sell the cotton, pay off, and they still had money left; she said it so confidently that it never occurred to anyone to argue with her. And when they asked her who she was going to borrow from, she replied: “They pinched the nose of a curious one,” she answered so playfully that everyone laughed and began to joke and tease her: she got herself a millionaire friend.
“No other than Rhett Butler,” Melanie remarked slyly, and everyone laughed even louder, this assumption seemed so ridiculous to them, because everyone knew that Scarlett hates Rhett and if she remembers him, it’s only about “that scoundrel Rhett Butler ".
But Scarlett did not laugh, and Ashley, who had begun to laugh, fell silent, noticing the wary look Mammy gave Scarlett.
Sulyn, infected by the unanimity that reigned in the room, became generous and brought her collar of Irish lace, although somewhat worn, but still lovely, and Carrin began to persuade Scarlett to wear her shoes to Atlanta - they were the best pair of shoes in all of Tara. Melanie begged Mammy not to throw away the velvet trimmings - she would wrap them around the frame of a leaky hat, and everyone rolled with laughter when she announced that the old rooster would apparently have to part with his luxurious, black-and-green and gold feathers if he did not run away to the swamp.
Scarlett looked at the rapidly moving fingers, heard bursts of laughter, and looked at those around her with hidden bitterness and contempt.
“They don’t understand anything – neither what is happening to me, nor to themselves, nor to the entire South. They still think that nothing bad can happen to them, because they are they:
O'Hare, Wilkes, Hamiltons. Even black -haired - and they think so. What same they all idiots! They will never understand anything. They will think and live as they always thought and lived, and nothing can change them. Let Mellie walk around in rags, pick cotton, and even help me kill a man - nothing can change her. This is how she will forever remain - a shy, well-bred Mrs. Wilkes, an ideal lady! And let Ashley see death, and fight, and be wounded, and sit in prison, and return to a devastated house - he will remain the same gentleman that he was when he owned the Twelve Oaks. Here is Will - that other one. He knows what life really is, but Will didn't have much to lose. Well, as for Syulyn and Karrin, they think it's all temporary. They do not change, do not adapt to the new conditions of life, because they think: this will soon pass. They believe that the Lord God will create a miracle - for their and only their good. Well, there will be no miracles. If anyone can work a miracle here, it's me when I spin Rhett Butler... And they won't change. Perhaps they cannot change. I am the only one who has changed here ... and I wouldn’t have changed if life hadn’t forced me.”
Finally Mammy pushed the men out of the dining room and closed the door behind them so that the fitting could begin. Pork took Gerald upstairs to sleep, leaving Ashley and Will alone by the lamplight in the front parlour. For a while, both were silent - Will only quietly chewed tobacco, like an animal chewing gum. However, his face was by no means serene.

“This trip to Atlanta,” he said quietly at last, “I don't like it. Don't like it at all.
Ashley gave him a quick glance and immediately averted his eyes; he didn't say anything, just wondered if Will had the same terrible suspicion that had tormented him. No, it can't be. Will does not know what happened in the afternoon in the orchard and how desperate Scarlett was. Nor could Will notice how Mammy's face changed at the mention of Rhett Butler, and in general, Will knows nothing about Rhett's money, or about what a bad reputation he has. At any rate, it seemed to Ashley that Will couldn't possibly know; however, since Ashley settled in Tara, he noticed that both Will and Mammy know a lot of things that no one told them about - they just feel when and what happens. And there was something ominous in the air now - what kind of trouble hung over them, Ashley did not know, but he understood that he could not save Scarlett from her. Their eyes had never met all that evening, but her hard, seething gaiety frightened him. The suspicion that tormented him was too terrible - he could not even express it aloud. He had no right to insult her like that - by asking bluntly. He clenched his fists tightly. He has no such right: this afternoon he forfeited all rights to her, forever. And now I can't help her anymore. And no one can. Then he thought of Mammy, of the grim determination with which she cut the velvet curtains, and his soul felt a little lighter. Mommy will take care of Scarlett, whether Scarlett wants it or not.
“It’s all my fault,” he thought in despair. “I pushed her into it.”
He remembered how she had straightened her shoulders as she walked away from him from the orchard, remembered how stubbornly her head had been tossed. And he reached out to her with all his heart, torn apart by the consciousness of his helplessness, consumed by admiration for her. He knew she didn't have the word "fearless warrior" in her vocabulary—he knew she would look at him blankly if he told him he hadn't met a more fearless warrior. Ashley also knew that if he had told her how much true fearlessness was in her actions, she would not have understood him. He knew that she knew how to look life in the face, fought hard, overcoming obstacles that stood in her way, stormed them decisively, not thinking about the possibility of defeat, and continued to fight even when defeat was inevitable.
But during these four years he met other people who refused to admit defeat - people who merrily marched towards their own destruction, because they were fearless people. And yet they, too, were defeated.
And now, looking at Will, who sat across from him in the dim living room, Ashley thought that he had really never met a man more courageous than Scarlett O'Hara, who decided to conquer the world with a dress made of her mother's velvet drapes and feathers torn from a cock's tail.

“Fumbling a little, he pulled out her new moiré dress. It was cut low on the chest; the skirt, tight around the stomach, lay on the bustle in lush folds, and a large bouquet of velvet roses flaunted on the folds.

Put on this,” he said, throwing the dress on the bed and walking towards her. - Today, no modest gray-lilac tones befitting a married lady. You will have to nail the flag to the mast, otherwise you will quickly lower it. And more blush. I am sure that the woman whom the Pharisees caught cheating on her husband was far from being so pale. Turn around.
He grabbed the straps of her corset with both hands and pulled them so hard that she screamed, frightened, humiliated, embarrassed by such an unusual situation.

It hurts, right? He laughed shortly, but she couldn't see his face. “It’s a pity that this ribbon is not around your neck.”