'Titanic' movie costumes showing off at Pigeon Forge museum
Amy McRaryPIGEON FORGE - Eight costumes from James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster "Titanic" are on exhibit through Labor Day at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge.
The Pigeon Forge museum shaped like the doomed ocean liner shows the costumes as a 20th anniversary tribute to the film starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. Costume designer Deborah Lynn Scott earned an Academy Award for Best Costume Design, one of 11 awarded to "Titanic," for her work on the movie.
In addition to the leased costumes, the museum rotates on exhibit some 400 of the 2,000 artifacts it owns that are from or related to the ship than sank in April 1912.
Oh that hat!
The most iconic costume shown is a white-and-purple striped boarding dress and wide-brim lavender hat Winslet wore at the film's start, says Titanic Museum Attraction co-owner Mary Kellogg-Joslyn.
When Winslet gets out of a Renault car and steps on a dock, it's the first time movie-goers see her as Rose DeWitt Bukater. As she tilts her head up in the large hat, Rose sees the Titanic and remarks, "I don't see what all the fuss is about."
But perhaps the most stunning dress exhibited is a burgundy and black beaded gown called Rose's "jump dress." Winslet, as Rose, wore the gown when she climbed over a ship rail to jump rather than marry her rich fiance Cal Hockley (Billy Zane). In that key scene Rose meets DiCaprio's Jack Dawson.
The Titanic also shows Rose's "sinking dress" and "sinking coat." The coat — pink with elaborate black embroidery — was a size 8. That was purposefully two sizes too large for Winslet's size 4 figure, Kellogg-Joslyn said, and designed so she appeared more vulnerable as the Titanic began to sink. Rose eventually discards the wet coat.
The "sinking dress" of white and gray chiffon with a pink sash is worn by Winslet through the later part of the movie. It's the dress she wears under a life jacket as the Titanic sinks. The grown was created to look as good when wet as dry, Kellogg-Joslyn said
A life jacket, autographed by Winslet, is displayed near the dress and coat.
See Jack in 3rd Class
Only one outfit worn by DiCaprio is exhibited. Jack's plain white shirt, tan corduroy pants and suspenders are in the museum's third-class cabin. That's appropriate; Jack was one of the film's third-class passengers.
Several costumes are shown in the museum's elaborate first-class suite. They include the tuxedo Zane wore as Cal and Rose's creamy dressing gown and corset.
Kellogg-Joslyn placed the costumes in context of both the museum and the film. Each costume is accompanied by a placard with a photo from the movie and a scene of dialogue. The sign with the corset recalls the scene when Rose's mother, played by Frances Fisher, laces her daughter's undergarment while insisting she must marry Cal.
The most poignant dialogue Kellogg-Joslyn selected accompanies Rose's "sinking dress." In that scene, Jack tells Rose, "We're gonna make it Rose. Trust me." And she answers, "I trust you."
A 'heart' of a necklace
The movie's famous "Heart of the Ocean" necklace isn't in the exhibit. Instead, the museum shows its own replica of the film's famous jewelry.
Six years ago the museum commissioned a "Heart of the Ocean" replica. Valued at $250,000, the impressive necklace with 215 diamonds and a 155-carat heart-shaped sapphire has its own case.
Less impressive but more wearable is a copy of the Jade butterfly hair comb Rose wore in several "Titanic" scenes. The comb is sold in the museum gift shop as one of its movie-styled souvenirs.
The movie costumes came to the Pigeon Forge museum from the Titanic's sister museum in Branson, Mo. The summer exhibit is included as part of museum admission.
Titanic Museum Attraction
Where: 2134 Parkway Pigeon Forge
Hours: 9 a.m.-10 p.m. daily July; hours vary after Aug. 5; schedule at www.titanicpigeonforge.com
Admission: $28.50 adults, $13 children; information 417-334-9500