POP! SIX! SQUISH! CICERO! LIPSCHITZ!

"Un Beau Monstre" (1971) - "Cabaret" (1972)

Last night I watched the 1971 French/Italian Helmut Berger movie "Un Beau Monstre" (US title: "Love Me Strangely") ...and in a pivotal scene, in walks the exquisite Virna Lisi wearing the dress I'd heretofore always thought of as "Liza Minnelli's 'Cabaret' Dress"! That's Liza Minnelli, of course, on the right singing the title number in 1972's "Cabaret" wearing the very same signature gown a year after it was worn by Virna Lisi in a film most people probably have never heard of.

The gown is by French fashion designer Loris Azzaro and is titled "Gilda" (he designed a collection of gowns named after famous film stars or iconic roles) and was sold at his Paris boutique in 1970-71.

Helmut Berger as King Ludwig II and Sonia Petrovna as Princess Sophie LUDWIG (1973) | dir. Luchino Visconti