Sexy “Oomph Girl” Ann Sheridan (sorry Ann–we know you hated that nickname, but darn it all if it doesn’t fit!) packed a walloping punch of ooh-la-la. Beautiful, ballsy and brainy, she was an electrical presence on screen that could rescue any picture from a case ho-hum doldrumery. (<–not a word. but ought to be.) TCM aired The Man Who Came to Dinner recently and, of course, her gold-digging diva is to die for.
But what really walks away with the picture is, sorry, this Orry-Kelly gown.

This is suggestive early 40s fashion at its haute, passing itself off as whimsical couture. Those are HANDS, after all, allllll up and down Sheridan’s front.
Adrian suggested the same sort of wink-wink-nudge-nudge playfulness with Rosalind Russell in The Women:

We see what you’re up to, Adrian…
oh wow- love the outfits.. perhaps comme des garcons used this as his inspiration a few seasons back… ??? 🙂
Two comments – Adrian actually used the hand motif (in a larger size) on of the models in the fashion show sequence in The Women. And if you haven’t seen it lately Ann Sheridan was still beautiful and had a great figure wearing Helen Rose’s gowns in The Opposite Sex, in 1956.