Below is the original checkered gingham dress that Judy Garland wore when she played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939). One of her rare costumes which have survived to our day, and still in good condition.

Pretty Judy Garland as Dorothy with Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz (1939).

Gilbert Adrian was responsible for the design of Judy Garland's iconic dress and ruby slippers.

This is the complete original blue-and-white gingham pinafore dress and white puff-sleeve blouse (or Dorothy dress) that was worn by Judy Garland during her performance as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939).

Judy Garland wore this one costume throughout the entire film and because of that it is so ingrained in everyone's mind. If you think of most movies, a star would have many costume changes, so this Dorothy dress is really an iconic piece that is associated with her so closely in the most important movie in her career you could argue.

This checkered gingham dress was created by Gilbert Adrian, the chief costume designer for MGM. This is probably one of his more famous creations, although he did work on over 250 films, this is one piece that everyone recognises instantly. He also designed the Ruby Slippers.

Adrian was one of the top and most famous costume designers of his time and nothing he made was simple, even though it may appear so on the outside, it actually takes a lot of skill to pull off something looking very simple.

They did a lot of testing on the color, and a lot of experimentation with the cotton fabrics so that it looks right in Technicolor, which was the technology for shooting The Wizard of Oz in color. The actual construction of the garment is very important. The seam work, and the way the dress is actually put together was incredibly complex, it looks simple but it's complex in it's construction.

MGM was the biggest film studios during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and the people who worked there at that time were among the highest level costumers, seamstresses and tailors that you could imagine so the quality of their stitching and everything that they did was professional and on a different level to what we're used to seeing today.

Although several identical Dorothy dresses were made for the production, the dress pictured below is the only version and complete original dress to survive.




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This particular dress was sold for $480,000 in 2012.

Much cheaper than the ruby slippers which is worth up to $3 million.