Thursday's Movie Review: The Seven Year Itch (1955)

The thing that I love about old movies is realizing that the pastoral, picturesque ideas that our grandparents paint of their day are completely fictional. Who knew The Seven Year Itch (1955) is actually a movie about infidelity, seduction, and fantasizing? Richard Sherman is a book editor whose wife and son goes to Maine for the summer while he stays in the city to work. A model moves in upstairs (played by Marilyn Monroe) and begins Richard's summer of unresolved sexual tension.  The comedy of the movie lies in Richard's absurd fantasies involving the girl upstairs, his wife, and multiple other women in his life. His mental condition spirals downwards throughout the movie until he becomes the personification of cognitive dissonance. The only thing keeping Richard's libido in check is the model's sweetness and innocence, in the end she proves that she has more character than Richard. The movie is best known for the white dress billowing over the subway grate scene, which never actually appears in the movie in all it's glory.

Get the look: The white dress defines not only the movie but Marilyn Monroe herself and is probably one of the most recognizable dresses in all of movie history. Every anachronistic fashionista needs one so head on over to  Trashy Diva's Dottie dress ($163) and pick one up. Wear it all summer.