Heaviest Costume in a Film

The heaviest costume (clothing) used in a film was worn by actress Norma Shearer in the historic drama Marie Antoinette (USA, 1938). For the film's wedding scene, costume designer Gilbert Adrian designed a dress modeled on those worn at King Louis XVI's court. It consisted of 500 yards of white silk satin fabric, hand embroidered with Fleur-de-lis made from silver thread and edged with seed pearl beads. When combined with the steel-frame crinoline and ten petticoats, the whole outfit weighed 110 lbs (49.9 kg).

Norma Shearer, who was a slim woman of around 5 ft (152 cm) in height, reportedly weighed less than her clothes at the time of this scene. Over the course of the film, she wore 35 different costumes, many of which weighed more than 50 lb (25 kg). During filming Shearer reportedly took to showing up to Hollywood parties in massive 18th century gowns.

Dressmaker's fabric is produced as sheets of cloth (called "bolts") that are typically 54 inches (137 cm) wide and 100 yards (91.4 m) long. Fabric from these bolts is typically sold by the yard with each "yard" of fabric representing a rectangle of fabric with an area of 1.25 m2 (13.5 sq ft). The 500 yards of fabric used in the Marie Antoinette dress would have covered an area larger than a basketball court.