The Superbowl XLVI party I attended was, really, a Madonna viewing party.  We had the highest expectations for the halftime show and weren’t disappointed.  Madge entered the stadium to perform Vogue Cleopatra-like, in a chariot drawn by a fleet of helmeted, half-naked centurions.  She was in a metal headdress by Philip Treacy and a short black dress with gold trimmings by Givenchy.  Styled by Bea Akerlund, the costume looked like something Bob Mackie would have whipped up for Cher forty years ago, over-the-top and also very pretty.  Then Madonna did some quick wardrobe changes to transform into a high school cheerleader for Give Me All Your Lovin’ and, finally, a church choir soloist for Like a Prayer.  Throughout the thirteen-minute set she looked great and sounded great and, in high heels, on a precarious stage, executed some rather complicated moves.  It was a tremendous show.  But everyone at the party agreed that she should have stuck with the ancient goddess theme all the way through.  During the game’s fourth quarter, long after the Material Girl had left the field, and when a Giants victory was far from assured, someone asked out loud, “Where did all those gladiators go?”

These ancient Roman stylings fit Madonna beautifully for a lot of reasons.  They channel D. W. Griffith, Liz Taylor as Cleopatra (the diamond earrings the singer was wearing were purchased from the movie star’s estate), the movie Gladiator, and Madonna’s own Italian heritage.  And, as it’s deployed here, the style is pure kitsch, a license for fantasy, a conglomeration of historic Greek, Roman and Egyptian details that most of us only really know through movies.  And it’s a style that’s not typically tapped by pop stars.  Madonna’s headdress, with its gleaming, pointed horns, looks more like one worn by an Egyptian god than an Egyptian queen, and she’s wearing it with a gladiatrix skirt, fishnets, and hooker boots.  She’s channeling everything, splendidly, at once.  I only wish that she’d stuck with this imagery — let’s call it Mishmash of Ancient Civilizations — through the show.  Of all the styles she’s adopted throughout her career, this one might be the most perfect fit for her heroic energy and ambitions.

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.