Sabina Speilrein was a famous early twentieth century analyst and analysand who was treated by both Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, and who is rumored to have had an affair with Jung.  In A Dangerous Method she’s portrayed, probably incorrectly, as a romantic figure.  She’s played by Keira Knightley, who’s dressed in impossibly slim white maxi skirts and dresses.  In the first scenes, when Speilrein is a teenager being treated for hysteria at the sanatorium at Burgholzli, she wears a series of impeccable, gauzy, white ankle-length dresses.  They set off Knightley’s slender frame perfectly, and give off a whiff of pre-sexual Victorian innocence.

I’m spill-prone and can’t wear all-white; it simply won’t work.  But this movie turned me on to the possibilities of the full-length all-white dress.  It’s simple and dramatic, and so much fresher than the LBD.  The only caveat is to select one with an informal, body-conscious profile so that it doesn’t look like a nightdress or a wedding gown.  The fitted white Alexander McQueen dress Pippa Middleton wore at this summer’s royal wedding, with tiny buttons running all the way up her spine, was so winning because it didn’t look at all like a bridesmaid dress, which is basically what it was.  But the white dress of my dreams is the spectacularly simple one John Galliano designed for Givenchy haute couture in the fall of 1996.  It’s got an empire waist and puffed cap sleeves, and stays close to the body all the way down.  Both in print (above) and on the runway, the very ladylike dress was accessorized with a plumed gladiatrix helmet.  It’s a perfect pairing.