# Pretty In Pink and the ugliest dress in the universe **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 21, 2005, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374 "2005-04-21T05:03:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/41 "2005-04-23T04:29:10Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > The diamond earrings were from [_Some Kind of Wonderful_](http://imdb.com/title/tt0094006/). Which was almost the same movie, of course. But better. With _two_ hot female leads! ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/42 "2005-04-23T04:37:04Z")
> [@aurelian](#): > > I heard somewhere that the ending was improvised - in the original script, she was supposed to end up with Duckie (which is what’s _supposed_ to have happened!! **aurelian** yells at the screen) but Molly Ringwald was really sick with the flu that day and couldn’t handle the closing dance scene (with Duckie); so the ending was changed. > Jon Cryer was so cute in that movie! Rumor that I heard was that they tested it and the Ducky ending flopped, so they went with the Blane ending. ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/43 "2005-04-23T06:50:59Z")
> [@aurelian](#): > > I heard somewhere that the ending was improvised - in the original script, she was supposed to end up with Duckie (which is what’s _supposed_ to have happened!! **aurelian** yells at the screen) but Molly Ringwald was really sick with the flu that day and couldn’t handle the closing dance scene (with Duckie); so the ending was changed. From IMDb trivia: “The original ending to this film depicted Duckie getting the girl, however the test audiences said they would have preferred to see Blane win Andie’s heart. Additionally, Molly Ringwald was sick during the filming of the ending, and John Hughes wasn’t satisfied with the editing. He was also concerned that audiences would take the original ending as a message that poor people and rich people don’t belong together.” Not sure how accurate that is, but it sums up everything I’ve heard. FWIW, I actually read the book (which was based on the script). Not only was the dress supposed to have been _gorgeous_ (when Andie shows up at the prom, one of the rich girls whispers to her friend that _she_ almost bought the dress at one of the snooty department stores but that Andie had knocked her out of the way to get it first), but it also had Andie pairing up with Duckie at the end. I found quotes from the ending of the book on [this page](http://www.improvresourcecenter.com/mb/archive/index.php/t-15747) (just keep scrolling down, there are like five excerpts, but I warn you, it was pretty crappily written). I enjoyed it, but I was also twelve. ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/44 "2005-04-23T08:04:51Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I only saw the top part-what did the rest of it look like? For anyone who hasn’t seen the movie, a tragedy in three parts: [Iona’s dress](http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/susie_derkins21/PIP_6.jpg) [Andie…are those scissors in your hand?](http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/susie_derkins21/pip200.jpg) [I’m sorry, did you say dress? I thought you said _mess_!](http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/susie_derkins21/pip215.jpg) That last one is the most complete picture of the dress that I was able to find. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/45 "2005-04-23T14:35:40Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > …I dunno; the Eighties all seemed like an egregious fashion nightmare to me, in addition to being a void of enduring music, television programs, and automobile designs. Or maybe it was just my angst-ridden adolescence coloring everything a uniform shade of hideousness. > > Stranger You remember the fashion and automobile designs correctly but you are wrong about the music. I’ve noticed that people’s opinions of 80s music depends on what they were mostly listening to back then…if they were listening to Lionel Ritchie and Journey then they remember it as sucking. If they were listening to the copious amounts of good music that mostly didn’t crack the top 40 (in the US) then they remember it as being pretty good. There were several good TV shows back then too, _Cheers_ and _Hill Street Blues_ to name just two. I could probably come up with more if I thought about it. ---
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/46 "2005-04-23T15:38:55Z")
> [@Susie Derkins](#): > > For anyone who hasn’t seen the movie, a tragedy in three parts: > > [Iona’s dress](http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/susie_derkins21/PIP_6.jpg) > > [Andie…are those scissors in your hand?](http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/susie_derkins21/pip200.jpg) > > [I’m sorry, did you say dress? I thought you said _mess_!](http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/susie_derkins21/pip215.jpg) > > That last one is the most complete picture of the dress that I was able to find. _wince_ How could she _do_ that? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/47 "2005-04-23T16:37:00Z")
> [@Susie Derkins](#): > > For anyone who hasn’t seen the movie, a tragedy in three parts: > > [Iona’s dress](http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/susie_derkins21/PIP_6.jpg) > > [Andie…are those scissors in your hand?](http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/susie_derkins21/pip200.jpg) > > [I’m sorry, did you say dress? I thought you said _mess_!](http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/susie_derkins21/pip215.jpg) > > That last one is the most complete picture of the dress that I was able to find. Oh my god. The original reminds me of one of the dresses Audrey Hepburn wore in _Breakfast at Tiffanys_-the one she has on when she gets the telegram about her brother. If she wanted to alter it, okay, maybe making it strapless would have been sufficient. But…she completely ruined it! She looks like a strawberry push up pop! She’s way too skinny looking in that…thing. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/48 "2005-04-23T18:38:26Z")
> [@Susie Derkins](#): > > Not sure how accurate that is, but it sums up everything I’ve heard. FWIW, I actually read the book (which was based on the script). Not only was the dress supposed to have been _gorgeous_ (when Andie shows up at the prom, one of the rich girls whispers to her friend that _she_ almost bought the dress at one of the snooty department stores but that Andie had knocked her out of the way to get it first), but it also had Andie pairing up with Duckie at the end. I found quotes from the ending of the book on [this page](http://www.improvresourcecenter.com/mb/archive/index.php/t-15747) (just keep scrolling down, there are like five excerpts, but I warn you, it was pretty crappily written). I enjoyed it, but I was also twelve. Oh God, me too. I remember I came back from the mall with the novelization and the Fine Young Cannibals album (and probably a snack!) and I listened to the album over and over while I read this book and reached some orgasmic state of 80s teen ecstacy. I think I was 14 or 15. Was it 1985? At any rate when I think of being in any way happy in the 80s, I think of that. I remember that, being a book and all, it was left to your imagination to visualize the wickedest most awesome coolest pink dress ever conceived. Then when you got to the part in the movie you were ready to see the most awesome dress ever and it’s like she just sewed one of Mrs. Roper’s dresses onto a doily. But it absolutely looked like something a 16 year old girl would design and make in her bedroom so I can live with it. I might be the only person who is so emotionally stunted that she can’t really look at movies from 20 years ago without getting a stomach ache over the whole passage of time thing. Part of me is dying to go watch it after seeing those screen caps. But I’m scared I might start weeping or something. God I suck. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/49 "2005-04-23T19:05:27Z")
Looking at that dress, I’m wondering if, in addition to designing it herself, they also allowed Molly to SEW it on her own. It looks incredibly ill-made. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/50 "2005-04-23T19:53:55Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Looking at that dress, I’m wondering if, in addition to designing it herself, they also allowed Molly to SEW it on her own. It looks incredibly ill-made. Actually, it looks like some misguided hybrid between dominatrix-fetish wear and a body bag, writ pink. Bare shoulders combined with complete shapelessness sends a hopelessly confused message, something like “Yes, touch me while we’re dancing but bring a can opener for later.” Personally, I think that the movie should have ended with Duckie and Blane discovering their latent attraction for each other and leaving Ringwald sitting at a table crying her eyes out. But then, that’s probably more of a reflection of my abhorrence of all things pertaining to high school dances, John Hughes, and Eighties teen comedies (with the exception of those starring John Cusack making successive failed attempts at suicide or involving high energy physics and copious amounts of popcorn). Yeah, I’m twisted and resentful. What are you going to do? Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/51 "2005-05-01T10:40:56Z")
I agree with y’all that ruining Iona’s vintage gown should have been a hangable offense. But, if you remember, Andie actually ruined **two** gowns: Iona’s, and the factory-outlet dress her dad got for her. She hybridized the two in order to create the pink vacuum bag. At the time, I thought it looked way too old for her; not old as in sophisticated, but old as in grandma. But I also figured, “Well, maybe ten years from now, it’ll look like the height of chic.” And in fact, it kind of was. The straight-up-and-down-high-neckline-bare-shoulders style was common in the '90s. And I hated it then, too! ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/52 "2005-05-01T17:04:49Z")
Oh, I remember the other dress! She used it to make the upside-down V-shaped…_thing_ on the Dress. I have a hard time considering that dress ruined, though; it looked like her dad got it at the Dollar Tree. ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/53 "2005-05-01T17:11:56Z")
Here is the [cheap hooker dress](http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/susie_derkins21/pip174.jpg). Heh heh. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/54 "2005-05-01T17:58:13Z")
Wow, having serious flashbacks here. I didn’t realize that dress was so ugly - I did think it kind of looked like a pink bag. The sheer bit at the neck was so pretty, and the rest - wasn’t. I was too caught up in the romance and the heartbreak to realize it, I guess. (Mm, John Cusack.) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/55 "2005-05-01T18:36:12Z")
You know, if she had just left off the sleeves, maybe made it a bit more form-fitting…it would have worked. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/56 "2005-05-02T08:29:10Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > You know, if she had just left off the sleeves, maybe made it a bit more form-fitting…it would have worked. I completely forgot that Harry Dean Stanton was in this! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/57 "2005-05-02T17:15:39Z")
Wasn’t he in everything in the 80’s? ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/58 "2005-05-02T17:24:50Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > Wasn’t he in everything in the 80’s? I think you’re thinking of William Hurt. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/59 "2005-05-02T18:08:37Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > I think you’re thinking of William Hurt. 😉 Both of them, along with the complete cast of _It’s A Mad, Mad World_, were played by Sir Alec Guinness in disguise. What? Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374/60 "2005-05-04T15:36:24Z")
Okay, the movie was on TBS last night, and I watched it. And you know what? Andi’s dress WAS ugly…until you got to the prom, and saw what the other girls were wearing. Holy shit, it looked like a bridesmaid dressshop exploded! Big ass butt-bows, hideously obnoxious pastels, enough ruffles to choke an elephant, big pouffy sleeves, and polyester taffeta so stiff you could hear it RUSTLING as they were dancing. Compared to them, Andi was stylin’! Still, why couldn’t she have simply made Iona’s lovely dress sleeveless, and then fixed up a shawl out of the dress her father bought? And maybe an overskirt of lace? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-in-pink-and-the-ugliest-dress-in-the-universe/300374.md?page=2)