She wears them well

On the original “Dallas,” Miss Ellie’s pearl necklace symbolized her role as wife, mother and fount of wisdom. Along with the beloved matriarch’s sack dresses, those little white beads became Ellie’s most enduring signature.

On TNT’s “Dallas,” Ann’s beads serve as visual shorthand for her role as Bobby’s wife and the new woman of Southfork. The first time we see her wearing them, during that terrific dinner scene in “Changing of the Guard,” TNT’s first “Dallas” episode, we know instantly what kind of character Ann is supposed to be.

Of course, putting Ann in pearls automatically invites comparisons to Miss Ellie, which is a bit risky since Barbara Bel Geddes is so revered among “Dallas” diehards. Indeed, while I tend to see Ann’s pearls – along with her Ellie-esque penchant for guns – as affectionate tributes to Bel Geddes’ character, some of my fellow “Dallas” fans seem to view them as cheap mimicry.

Perhaps this explains “The Last Hurrah” scene where J.R. gives Ellie’s pearl necklace to Sue Ellen. It’s as if the “Dallas” producers, anticipating there might be some Ann skeptics in the audience, wanted to make sure everyone understood the character doesn’t have a monopoly on white beads. In other words: Brenda Strong might be playing the new lady of the manor, but Linda Gray has inherited Bel Geddes’ mantle as “Dallas’s” elder stateswoman, so Sue Ellen gets the honor of possessing the pearls Ellie actually wore.

But give Ann her due. In “Truth and Consequences,” the character begins coming into her own, especially in the scene where she meets Rebecca for coffee and offers the confused young woman comfort (“You’re young, Rebecca. You make mistakes when you’re young. It doesn’t mean you can’t change.”), as well as a little tough love (“Your choices are yours.”).

Strong is terrific in this scene, which demonstrates how, even though Ann doesn’t have children of her own (that we know of, that is), she has the potential to become a significant maternal figure to “Dallas’s” younger characters.

I also think it’s notable that Ann is sans necklace when she visits ex-husband Harris Ryland in “Truth and Consequences” and asks him to help slow down the drilling on Southfork.  Since Ann’s pearls symbolize her role as Bobby’s wife – and since her meeting with Ryland takes place behind Bobby’s back – it’s probably best she leaves the beads at home.

Subject to contrast

When “Who Done It?” begins, Sue Ellen is at the Dallas police station, where she is being arrested for J.R.’s shooting. We see her have her mug shot taken and get fingerprinted, and then Detective Frost reads her her rights.

We also watch as Sue Ellen removes her jewelry – rings, earrings, bracelets, pearls – and passes each item to an officer seated behind a cage window.

True colors

The poignancy of this scene can’t be overstated. For Sue Ellen, these aren’t just ornaments; they’re part of her identity. Not since the first-season episode “Winds of Vengeance,” when Luther Frick forced her to wear a swimsuit, has she been this exposed.

To underscore the drama of Sue Ellen’s jailhouse scenes, the “Dallas” wardrobe designers put Linda Gray in a black-and-white “dress” (it’s actually a matching blouse and skirt that give the appearance of being a single garment). The right side of the top is black and the left is white; below the black belt, the colors are reversed.

Aside from evoking prison stripes, the dress symbolizes the dichotomy of seeing this wealthy Dallas society wife being hauled off to jail. The dress also represents the mystery surrounding Sue Ellen’s role in J.R.’s shooting. She was drunk the night he was gunned down and can’t remember if she pulled the trigger, but the truth is black or white: Sue Ellen is either guilty or she isn’t. She just doesn’t know which.

By the end of the “Who Done It?” Sue Ellen figures out J.R.’s assailant was Kristin, who has been trying to frame her for the crime. In the episode’s climactic scene, a triumphant Sue Ellen goes to Southfork to confront her sister, and once again, “Dallas” uses Sue Ellen’s clothing to open a window into her mindset.

With the burden of doubt lifted, Sue Ellen’s somber black-and-white dress has been replaced with one that’s lighter and brighter, dotted with small splashes of red, blue and yellow. Unlike the earlier outfit, this dress offers a plunging neckline – perfect for a woman who is eager to expose her sister’s misdeeds.

The outsider

In “The Enemy of My Enemy,” Tommy comes charging into Rebecca’s apartment, grumbling about the crowd at the coffee shop he’s just returned from. “People in Texas are way too friendly. It tries my nerves,” he says.

The line reminds us that Tommy is an outsider in Dallas – and so does the hat Callard Harris wears in this scene. The headgear appears to be a straw fedora, trimmed with a plaid ribbon. Notably, it isn’t a Stetson, the style favored by the Ewing men.

In addition to offering another demonstration of Tommy’s distinctive fashion sense – he memorably wore flip-flops to Christopher and Rebecca’s wedding in “Changing of the Guard,” the first episode of TNT’s “Dallas” – the hat recalls the fedora Digger Barnes wore on the original “Dallas.”

This might be another sly homage to the old show. Like Tommy, Digger was also an outsider who coveted the Ewings’ wealth. Of course, the source of Digger’s envy was always apparent: He believed Jock “stole” Miss Ellie and cheated him out of his rightful share of Ewing Oil.

Tommy’s motivation remains a mystery – along with any other connections he and Rebecca may share with classic characters like Digger.

Lion king

In the famous painting of Jock that hangs at Southfork (and later, Ewing Oil) after the character’s death, he wears his signature gold medallion. The lion’s head, which dangles on a chain around Jock’s neck, reminds the world of his role as father of the Ewing pride.

When Jock was alive, sometimes his own family needed the reminder.

Jim Davis is first shown wearing the lion’s head in the fourth-season episode “The Venezuelan Connection,” when an enraged Jock chases down Bobby in the Southfork driveway after discovering his youngest son has bought a refinery.

“Why in the hell didn’t you check with me first?” Jock demands.

“There wasn’t time, Daddy. I had to move fast,” Bobby responds.

“Move fast? So fast you didn’t have time to talk to me?”

Similar scenes unfold in other fourth-season episodes. In “The Prodigal Mother,” Jock is wearing the medallion when he makes a dismissive remark about Mitch and Lucy stands up to him, and in “Executive Wife,” the lion’s head is hanging around Jock’s neck when Ray suggests he should check with Bobby before taking millions of dollars out of the company to invest in a land deal.

In that instance, Jock lets Ray know he’s still top dog (er, cat) at Ewing Oil.

“Let me tell you something, Ray,” he says. “Ewing Oil is mine. I started it. I worked it. I made it what it is today. And if Bobby or anybody else don’t like the way I do things, they know what they can do.”

As Jock speaks, the medallion around his neck catches the Texas sunlight, drawing the viewer’s attention and helping to illuminate the Ewing patriarch’s message. There’s no doubt: Jock may be a lion in winter, but he’s still a lion.

Unraveled

All season long, TNT’s “Dallas” has used Marta’s hair and wardrobe to telegraph her shifting moods and evolving identity. This practice continues in “Collateral Damage,”when the bipolar vixen goes off her medication – and eventually, off the deep end.

When we meet Marta in TNT’s “Dallas” pilot, “Changing of the Guard,” the character pretends to be a wealthy land conservationist who wants to buy Southfork and turn it into a nature preserve. She wears her hair up, but once her true motives are revealed – “Marta” is actually Veronica Martinez, who is secretly plotting with John Ross to seize the ranch – we begin seeing her with hair down, literally and figuratively.

By TNT’s sixth “Dallas” episode, “The Enemy of My Enemy,” Marta is in full “Fatal Attraction” mode and determined to steal John Ross from Elena. The tightly wound Marta shows up on his doorstep in a skintight dress, hoping to seduce him, only to be rejected once again.

When John Ross sees Marta again in “Collateral Damage,” she has come undone. The skintight dress has been replaced by something much looser; it falls off Leonor Varela’s shoulder, which seems appropriate given how her character is falling apart.

The dress’s metallic color is also telling. Until now, Marta has been depicted as a duplicitous villainess, but in Varela’s haunting final scene, it’s hard to not feel sorry for her. Marta is neither good nor bad; like all great “Dallas” characters, she lies somewhere in between. It’s another reason why the gray dress is fitting, even if it doesn’t quite fit.

It’s a family thing

Pam is the focus of “Executive Wife,” and in all her scenes, she wears purple. It starts off subtly – in Victoria Principal’s first appearance in this episode, Pam sports a purple belt with a blue pantsuit – but the color becomes more prominent as the story progresses.

Perhaps the purple suggests Pam is emotionally bruised after being rejected by Rebecca in the previous episode, “The Prodigal Mother.” Or maybe it signifies Pam’s romantic state: If purple is produced by blending red with blue, then isn’t it the ideal pigmentation to represent Pam’s heart-versus-head struggle to resist Alex Ward’s temptation in this episode?

The color is frequently seen on other characters during “Dallas’s” fourth season, but “Executive Wife” might be the show’s purplest episode of all. In addition to seeing it on Pam, Sue Ellen wears a purple floral print dress when J.R. takes her ring shopping; Donna wears a purple dress when she and Cliff run into J.R. and Sue Ellen during their shopping spree; and Bobby’s secretary Connie sports a pinkish-purple blouse in “Executive Wife’s” first act.

As if that wasn’t enough, when Mitch and Lucy announce their engagement to the Ewings, she wears a purple dress, while he sports a purple necktie. In Mitch’s case, the color is particularly appropriate. After all, if he survives his entry into the family Ewing, he may well qualify for a purple heart.

Sue Ellen’s dress, part 1

Lucy’s wedding in the fourth-season episode “End of the Road, Part 2,” gives the “Dallas” cast a chance to dress up and show off like never before. No one rises to the occasion quite like Linda Gray, who gets to wear two outfits.

When the ceremony begins, Sue Ellen wears a brownish-gray satin dress with shoulders so wide, it makes Gray look like she’s been wrapped in a king-sized bedspread.

… And part 2

This might be intentional. During the reception, a waiter spills a drink on Sue Ellen, and when she retreats to her bedroom to change, she discovers J.R. has been sleeping with Afton – in the same bed he shares with Sue Ellen.

Old-fashioned girl

Until this point, Sue Ellen has been resisting the charms of her old college boyfriend Clint Ogden, a guest at the wedding who has been shamelessly flirting with her. Once she knows J.R. is cheating on her again – and with her “bedspread dress” stained – Sue Ellen apparently decides she has nothing to lose.

She changes into a much different outfit: a form-fitting pinkish-orange garment with three big white flowers printed on the front.

The u-shaped neckline swoops down across Gray’s chest and leaves her shoulders exposed, making this dress much sleeker and sexier than the bedspread. Sue Ellen seems to be letting the world know she’s available again.

Lucy’s wedding gown is also revealing – figuratively, that is. She gets fitted for the dress in “End of the Road, Part 1,” when we learn Miss Ellie wore the gown during her wedding to Jock a half-century earlier.

This seems appropriate. Lucy is a modern girl in almost every sense of the word, but she harbors some pretty outdated ideas about marriage.

In “Start the Revolution with Me,” a later fourth-season episode, Lucy suggests she’d like to drop out of school so she can become a full-time wife to Mitch. At that point, it becomes clear: Lucy didn’t just inherit a wedding dress from the 1930s; she got a Depression era mentality to go along with it.

Dead men don’t wear plaid. Right?

In “Family Business,” TNT continues an old “Dallas” tradition: using the Ewings’ sleepwear to telegraph their vulnerabilities.

The practice can be traced to “Spy in the House,” the original show’s third episode, when a sexually neglected Sue Ellen buys a negligee, hoping to arouse J.R.’s interest. Her plan doesn’t work: J.R. calls the nightie “cheap” and storms out of the room, leaving his wife in tears.

In the second-season episode “Survival,” a bathrobe-clad Jock weeps when he learns a plane carrying J.R. and Bobby has crashed. Later, in the third-season episode “Ellie Saves the Day,” Jock and Miss Ellie are both wearing robes when they learn J.R.’s latest oil deal has brought the Ewing empire to the brink of collapse.

And when we encounter a deeply depressed J.R. at the beginning of “Changing of the Guard,” TNT’s first “Dallas” episode, what’s he wearing? You guessed it: a robe and pajamas.

In “Family Business,” Patrick Duffy sports plaid pajamas and what appears to be a dark green robe after Bobby is diagnosed with a life-threatening cerebral aneurysm. The PJs, like the reading glasses perched on Bobby’s nose, remind us our silver-haired hero is entering the twilight of his life – a point Bobby himself makes when he poignantly reminds J.R., “Nobody lives forever.”

But the sleepwear lets us know something else too: Even in pajamas, Patrick Duffy is still dashing.

Go vest, young man

During the old “Dallas’s” early years, J.R. often wore vests, symbolizing how he was no one-dimensional villain: The extra layer under his suit jackets reflected his multi-layered personality.

On TNT’s “Dallas,” John Ross wears vests too, but his look seems to carry a different meaning.

Josh Henderson’s character is still coming into his own as an oil baron, which his vests signify. Despite his ambition, he isn’t quite ready for full business suits.

Consider the final scene in “Revelations,” the first season-ending cliffhanger, when a vest-clad John Ross turns to his daddy and says, “You start teaching me the oil business – and you start teaching me every dirty trick that you know.”

Will John Ross be a quick study? And once he learns J.R.’s tricks, will he suit up?

Tune in next season.

Twisty

In “Start the Revolution with Me,” Victoria Principal sports a new hairstyle – a frizzy permanent, one of the fashion fads of the early 1980s.

The look demonstrates how Pam is always ahead of the curve, and it also gives “Dallas” a chance to show how cool Miss Ellie is. She’s the only character to comment on Pam’s new style, telling her, “I love your new hairdo.”

But there’s symbolism in Pam’s do, too. In “Dallas’s” previous episode “Making of a President,” Sue Ellen urges Pam to have an affair with Alex. “Pam, I just want you to protect yourself,” Sue Ellen says. “The Ewing men are all the same. Bobby and J.R. are into the same power trip, and for you to survive, you have two choices: You can either get out, or you can play by their rules.”

Pam seems to resist the advice, but we know she’s really tempted by Alex. This means Pam is becoming more like her morally ambiguous in-laws – particularly Sue Ellen, who has cheated on J.R. with at least three men (Ray, Cliff and Dusty) at this point during “Dallas’s” run.

So is it any wonder Pam shows up in “Start the Revolution with Me” wearing a perm?

Think about it: A “permanent wave,” according to Wikipedia, is created by stretching and softening hair and molding it around the shape of a perm rod. By allowing herself to get close to another man, isn’t Pam doing something similar – stretching the boundaries of matrimony, relaxing her standards, molding herself into the shape of a Ewing? Or maybe Pam just wants Bobby to notice her.

Whatever the case, the perm doesn’t last long – and thankfully, neither does Pam’s flirtation with infidelity.

She’s got the look

In true “Dallas” style, Dallas Decoder’s recent Sue Ellen Week ended with a bit of a cliffhanger. Here at last is the final chapter, in which the wonderful Linda Gray joins me to discuss seven iconic looks she wore as Sue Ellen Ewing.

1. The Black and White Dress (1980)

Chris: This is the dress Sue Ellen wore when she was arrested for shooting J.R., and to me, it’s her most iconic look of all. Only Sue Ellen Ewing could make “prison stripes” look this fashionable.

Linda: That dress was an accident. We didn’t know that it was going to be the dress she would eventually wear to jail! I thought it was a little too “on the nose,” but as you said, it ended up being an iconic look that the fans just loved.

2. The Fur Coat (1981)

Chris: Here’s the coat Sue Ellen wears when she discovers Dusty Farlow is still alive. I remember watching this scene when I was a kid and thinking you were the most glamorous woman I’d ever seen.

Linda: I loved that coat and it was perfect for the scene. Soft and feminine. Remember, that was the 80’s and there was not a focus on not wearing fur as it is now. I don’t wear fur … but Sue Ellen would!

3. The Short Hair (1982)

Chris: When the 1981-82 season ends, Sue Ellen is at Cliff’s hospital bedside and your hair is long and flowing onto your shoulders. The 1982-83 season opens later that day with Sue Ellen leaving the hospital — and suddenly your hair is short!

Linda: I loved the haircut. I remember clearly going to [hairstylist] José Eber and telling him that I was tired of clips in my hair, ponytails and the hair constantly sticking to my lip gloss. He said, “Dahling, let’s create a new look!” He did. I loved it … and the producers hated it. Oops! Thank God all the fashion people loved it and we received several awards from hair magazines and fashion magazines as being one of the best coiffeurs in the 80’s!

4. The Funeral Outfit (1985)

Chris: When Bobby’s funeral begins, Sue Ellen looks amazing in that hat, but by the end of the day, she’s come unraveled — literally and figuratively. She even loses that rock she wears on her finger.

Linda: Well, yes! She does look glamorous in that Valentino outfit, but as you said, she quickly unravels! It broke my heart when they literally tore the skirt I was wearing for the scene. They actually had to buy two Valentino skirts so it broke my heart that they had to ruin one! That show was when I first met Lou Diamond Phillips. He played one of the pimps on the street as Sue Ellen was walking aimlessly around having lost her ring!

5. The Oil Baron’s Ball Gown (1985)

Chris: This is my favorite Sue Ellen gown from the mid-1980’s, when Travilla was the show’s costume designer. You look amazing.

Linda: I loved Bill Travilla. He used to come into my dressing room and sit early in the morning and tell me wonderful stories of the glamorous women of Hollywood that he used to dress. Of course, we all remember the famous shot of Marilyn Monroe in that amazing white halter dress — which he designed — of her standing over the street grate. Talk about iconic. He knew how to dress the female body. He was a genius and designed clothes for the actors that suited their characters and their body type.

6. The Executive Look (1986)

Chris: This is one of Sue Ellen’s first outfits when she becomes a business executive. I love that sassy expression.

Linda: I remember it clearly. I like that sassy expression too. It’s so funny because in all of these pictures I can “feel” the fabric! I remember the contrasting patterns being a bit bold back then but we were always trying to push the envelope a bit — or a lot — to give the audience an idea to play more with their wardrobe and become a little more creative.

7. Black and White Redux (2013)

Chris: To me, this outfit demonstrates the genius of Rachel Sage Kunin, the new show’s costumer designer. She manages to update Sue Ellen’s look while staying true to the character’s traditions.

Linda: I am honored and so happy to be working with Rachel. She gets it! She is creative, talented, knows her fabric and has gotten every single character dressed perfectly for their role. The other thing that people don’t know is that she dresses everyone on the show. Usually they have a woman wardrobe woman and a person for the men. It’s the first show that I have ever worked on where there is only one person — and I’m so glad that it’s Rachel.

Share your thoughts on Sue Ellen’s looks in the comments section below and read more “Dallas Styles.”

“Dallas’s” third-season opener, “The Return,” brought the Ewings back in style. My favorite look: the obi-belted color-block dress that Linda Gray wore in three scenes, including the family’s Arctic drilling strategy session inside the Ewing Global boardroom. Costume designer Rachel Sage Kunin created the dress, which evokes the ’70s chic looks that Sue Ellen sported during “Dallas’s” earliest years. What could be better for Gray, who hasn’t aged a day since then?

I also love the sleeveless, blue-and-black dress that Julie Gonzalo rocks in one of Pamela’s boardroom appearances, as well as Jordana Brewster’s dark-frame eyeglasses. Elena is hiding her true intentions from the Ewings, so why not complete the deception by hiding behind those sexy/smart spectacles? Speaking of cover-ups: Who doesn’t love Jesse Metcalfe’s beard? Even “Dallas” fans who prefer their men clean-shaven tell me they find Christopher’s scruff irresistible.

And then there’s J.R.’s belt buckle, which John Ross received in “The Return’s” most touching scene. I like this accessory because it helps keep alive Larry Hagman’s memory, but it also puts the audience on notice: We better all buckle up, because “Dallas” is going to take us on another wild ride this year.

What were your favorite looks in “The Return”? Share your thoughts in the comments section below and read more “Dallas Styles.”

The crowd may have been smaller than in days gone by and no one got dunked in the pool, but there’s one area where this week’s Ewing Barbecue lived up to tradition: the clothing. The Southfork shindigs on the original “Dallas” always allowed the characters to dress a little more playfully than usual, and so did the barbecue in “Trust Me,” TNT’s latest episode.

My favorite look belonged to Linda Gray, who sported a nifty brown cowgirl hat that brought back memories of the hats Sue Ellen wore to the Southfork hoedowns of the 1980s. I also couldn’t help but smile when AnnaLynne McCord’s character, Heather, showed up at the party in that beautiful white dress; it reminded me of the simple, elegant dress Pam Ewing sported at “Dallas’s” first barbecue in 1978. I also loved how costume designer Rachel Sage Kunin paired Heather’s dress with weathered cowgirl boots; it was an ideal combination for McCord’s tomboyish character.

Juan Pablo Di Pace was the best-dressed man at the barbecue (although Jesse Metcalfe was a close second in that dark blue denim shirt). Nicolas, an out-of-town Latin American businessman, came to the party dressed just like we would expect him to: Instead of western garb, he wore a light-colored sport coat and trousers and an open-collared white shirt that strategically showcased the St. Christopher’s medal that’s so important to the character. I also loved Pamela’s blue blouse and dark pants and boots — and how gorgeous did Julie Gonzalo’s hair look under that Southfork sunshine? (Kudos, Charles Yusko!)

My other favorite wardrobe selection from “Trust Me”: the purple shirt Mitch Pileggi wore in the scene where Harris pulled a gun on Judith. Only Pileggi could make a paisley print look badass — and wasn’t it nice to finally see him in something other than the gray T-shirt he’s been wearing since the end of the second season?

What were your favorite looks in “Trust Me”? Share your thoughts in the comments section below and read more “Dallas Styles.”

There were a lot of classic looks in “Playing Chicken,” TNT’s latest “Dallas” episode, including the long-sleeved blue dress that Linda Gray wore during Sue Ellen’s memorable lunch with Bum. Gray looks great no matter what you dress her in, but blue has always been one of her best colors. I also love how Sue Ellen’s blue-and-green dangly earrings complemented the dress. It was kind of hard to see them when the scene began, but as Sue Ellen and Bum’s conversation progressed — and it became clear she was playing him like a fiddle — the earrings seemed to reveal themselves more. They became an effective symbol for her below-the-radar manipulation of poor, well-meaning Bum.

The guys sported timeless looks in “Playing Chicken” too. John Ross spent much of this episode in western garb, including the dark blue denim shirt he wore in the scene where he learned about the plight of the lesser prairie chicken. It evoked the cowboy-hats-and-jeans getups that Josh Henderson sported during “Dallas’s” first season. I also loved the white shirt and khakis that Jesse Metcalfe wore in Christopher’s scenes in Mexico. The outfit was stylish yet practical; if I had to go sleuthing around the hot, dusty streets of Nuevo Laredo, this is probably what I’d wear.

Of course, “Playing Chicken” will probably be remembered for all the revealing outfits. No one showed more skin than Emma Bell’s Emma Ryland, who strutted around Southfork in that tangerine “monokini.” Like Sue Ellen’s earrings, the swimsuit can be seen as a symbol since it helped expose Emma’s determination to undermine John Ross and Pamela’s marriage. (By the way, in response to all the inquiries from fans, costume designer Rachel Sage Kunin tweeted the bathing suit came from Sauvage Swimwear.)

And then there were the dueling emerald green corsets worn by Bell and Julie Gonzalo’s Pamela Barnes Ewing. Yowza! Not since Sue Ellen dabbled in the lingerie business back in the 1980s have we seen such revealing undergarments on “Dallas.” This wasn’t just an excuse to put Bell and Gonzalo in skimpy underwear, either; now that we know Emma intentionally ruined Pamela’s surprise for John Ross, we have a whole new reason to despise her.

The question is: Who wore it best? I like the way Gonzalo settled this debate when TNT posed the question to viewers at the end of the episode. As Gonzalo tweeted, “Who wore it best?!? SCREW THAT. we BOTH did!”

Darlin’, we couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

What were your favorite looks in “Playing Chicken”? Share your thoughts in the comments section below and read more “Dallas Styles.”

Julie Gonzalo always looks beautiful on “Dallas,” but the actress was nothing less than radiant when Pamela Rebecca Barnes Ewing Ewing got married (again) in “Lifting the Veil,” this week’s episode. I love how Pamela’s Vera Wang gown left one shoulder exposed, making her look sophisticated and sexy all at once, and how her hair was pulled to one side, evoking the glamour of Hollywood screen sirens from the 1940s. Also, don’t overlook Pamela’s makeup, which highlighted Gonzalo’s natural beauty without ever getting in its way. This is what perfection looks like.

Of course, everyone looked amazing in “Lifting the Veil.” I especially liked how costume designer Rachel Sage Kunin used color to link the Ewings: John Ross’s tuxedo was dark blue, and so were Sue Ellen and Lucy’s gowns. Whether or not it was intentional, there’s symbolic value here: In some scenes, Linda Gray’s dress looked black, which is fitting when you consider what a dark day this turned out to be for Sue Ellen. In that spirit, Jordana Brewster’s black-and-white dress — which featured all that cool embroidery — was the ideal choice for Elena, a good woman who has gotten in touch with her bad side this season.

I wish “Lifting the Veil” had given us more wedding scenes like the one above, which shows the Ewing women and Audrey Landers’ Afton Cooper (va-va-voom!) waiting for the missing groom to show up. Besides being artfully composed, this wide shot allowed us to see everyone’s outfit from head to toe. On the other hand: There were also some nifty looks in the scenes that took place outside the big event, including the work-of-art tunic Brenda Strong wore when Sue Ellen told Ann that their children are sleeping together, as well as Judith Light’s big-as-Texas hair in the episode-ending revelation that Mother Ryland is a madam. (Speaking of hair: Yes, that was “Dallas” hair stylist Charles Yusko playing the hairdresser who fixed Ann’s tresses in one of the pre-wedding scenes.)

Make no mistake: “Dallas” fans are going to remember “Lifting the Veil” when the Emmy nominations are announced later this year. If we don’t hear our favorite show’s name mentioned when the wardrobe, hair and makeup categories are announced, we’re going to riot — and I’ll be the one leading the charge.

What were your favorite looks in “Lifting the Veil”? Share your thoughts in the comments section below and read more “Dallas Styles.”

The Ewings and the Rylands made one bold fashion statement after another in “D.T.R.,” this week’s “Dallas” episode. Nothing was more striking than the red jacket Linda Gray wore in the scene where Sue Ellen ambushed Governor McConaughey and sprung her trap for him. Red was the ideal color for Sue Ellen’s big power play, and did you notice the jacket featured star-shaped cutouts? I can think of nothing more suitable for Gray, who was the star of this hour. I also loved Steven Weber’s bright blue tie, which evoked a certain real-life Texas governor/White House aspirant who made blue neckties one of his signatures.

My other favorite looks in “D.T.R.” include Sue Ellen’s leather jacket, which pulled double duty: She wore it when she confronted John Ross in her office and told him he was being “reckless and dumb,” and she kept it on later that night, when she and Bobby eavesdropped on McConaughey. In both situations, the jacket reminded us how Sue Ellen is undeniably cool. Speaking of John Ross: Are you enjoying Josh Henderson’s three-piece suits as much as me? He looks sharp every time he wears one, but the suits also help symbolize how John Ross has become all business.

I also love every outfit that costume designer Rachel Sage Kunin chose for Brenda Strong in “D.T.R.” I described Ann’s tunic-blouse in the previous episode as a work of art; the same thing can be said about the beautiful dress she wore in “D.T.R.” when she returned from her shopping spree and kicked Emma off Southfork. I also like Ann’s blue sweater set in the scene where she welcomed Emma home; the sweater set is nothing flashy, but it perfectly fits the character’s casually elegant style.

Finally, there’s Judith Light’s pearl choker, which offers a window into Mother Ryland’s double life. The choker is a brilliant accessory for the scene where Judith drops all those sweet, grandmotherly pearls of wisdom (“Never let a man screw you for nothing”) on Emma in the restaurant. Later, when Judith came home at 3 a.m. — wild-haired after a long night at the bordello — the choker took on a whole other meaning. In this light, it looked a little like the kinky collars you sometimes see S&M enthusiasts sporting.

Hey, you don’t suppose Judith spent the evening entertaining canine-loving Commissioner Babcock, do you?

What were your favorite looks in “D.T.R.”? Share your thoughts in the comments section below and read more “Dallas Styles.”

The people who make “Dallas” gave us lots of drama to “fanalyze” in “Like Father, Like Son,” this week’s episode, but don’t overlook all the great looks from superstar costume designer Rachel Sage Kunin.

Top honors go to Emma Bell, Jordana Brewster and Julie Gonzalo, who all looked runway ready when Emma, Elena and Pamela hit the town for their girls’ night out. We never got a good glimpse of their outfits on screen, so this week’s collage includes a publicity shot of Brewster and Gonzalo in their fun, flirty print dresses. (For a good picture of the slinky green number that Bell wore in this scene, check out the latest edition of my “Drill Bits” news column.)

I’m also mad for the plaid necktie Josh Henderson sported during John Ross’s boardroom showdown and his confrontation with Sue Ellen. The tie reminded me of the one John Ross wore to J.R.’s funeral, which is appropriate since his ghost loomed so large in Henderson’s big scene with Linda Gray. Speaking of the magnificent Ms. Gray: I love the big, bold necklace she wore when Sue Ellen and John Ross clashed in her office at the top of the hour. The necklace looks like a wreath of crystals and so I imagine it’s pretty hefty, although it’s probably nothing compared to the heavy emotional burden poor Sue Ellen is carrying these days.

This episode’s other great look: the sexy sweater with the shoulder cutouts that Brenda Strong wore when Ann and Bobby (Patrick Duffy) sat on their den sofa and drank wine. What’s that, you say? You don’t remember that scene? Apparently it was cut from the episode, but TNT helpfully distributed a publicity shot from Bobby and Ann’s conversation, so I’m including it here. Here’s hoping the scene is included on the third-season DVD; not only do I want to know what Mr. and Mrs. Ewing are talking about, I want to see more of that sweater!

What were your favorite looks in “Like Father, Like Son”? Share your thoughts in the comments section below and read more “Dallas Styles.”

I knew I’d found my look of the week the moment Pamela turned up in that black-and-white dress in “Like a Bad Penny,” “Dallas’s” latest episode. The dress was a brilliant choice for Julie Gonzalo’s character for many reasons, beginning with its symbolic value: Pamela increasingly reminds fans of her mother-in-law Sue Ellen, who long ago made black-and-white outfits one of her signature looks.

Pamela’s dress, a Stella McCartney design, is a work of art: It features a rounded neck, long sleeves and contrasting panels that create a sexy, hourglass illusion. I also love how Gonzalo moved in it: The first time we saw her wearing it, when Pamela and John Ross turned the corner and came down the hall in the Las Vegas hotel, notice how Gonzalo sashayed. She looked so striking, I’m surprised the show didn’t give her a bigger entrance; if ever a scene called for a dramatic, slow-motion walk, this was it.

The dress was costume designer Rachel Sage Kunin’s pièce de résistance in “Like a Bad Penny,” but let’s also hear it for hair stylist Charles Yusko, who once again showed off Pamela’s emerald earrings without putting her hair up. Instead, Gonzalo’s hair was swept back; it reminded me of one of Victoria Principal’s styles on the original “Dallas.” The dress may have been Sue Ellen, but the hair was Aunt Pam.

Not to be “out-blinged,” Josh Henderson sported a nifty tie tack and cuff links during the Las Vegas scenes, along with the much-loved J.R. wristwatch, which boomeranged back to him after he gambled it away. I also loved Emma Bell’s red, multi-zippered coat; it wasn’t a traditional trench coat, but it still made an ideal accessory for Emma, who went Nancy Drew on us and started snooping into her father’s scheme against John Ross. I also want to give one more nod to Jesse Metcalfe’s beard, which is slated to go away during next week’s midseason finale. Sigh.

Finally, a few thoughts on the sanitarium stylings of Sue Ellen Ewing. She spent much of this episode in a gray T-shirt and seemed to wear very little makeup, which allowed us to focus on Linda Gray’s moving, heartfelt performance. And yet Sue Ellen remained beautiful nonetheless. If there’s a lesson here, it’s this: Even when she’s wearing nothing more than a simple tee, Linda Gray still looks amazing.

What were your favorite looks in “Like a Bad Penny”? Share your thoughts in the comments section below and read more “Dallas Styles.”

Julie Gonzalo and Emma Bell donned Pamela and Emma’s green corsets again in “Dallas’s” midyear cliffhanger, but this time around, the question isn’t who wore it better — it’s who used the lingerie more effectively?

The corsets debuted earlier this season, when Pamela wore the sexy undergarment for John Ross on the night before their wedding. Little did she know Emma had worn an identical corset for him the previous evening, knowing it would spoil Pamela’s surprise. In “Where There’s Smoke,” this week’s episode, Pamela finally discovered John Ross and Emma’s affair and went to the Omni to interrupt their latest tryst. Emma had her corset on again, and as we soon discovered, Pamela was also wearing hers — part of a twisted plot to lure her husband and his mistress into a threesome before going into an overdose-fueled seizure on them.

Some fans feel the three-way sex scene was too graphic, but I was too busy pondering the symbolic value of the costumes: In the earlier episode, Emma wore her corset in a scheme to undermine John Ross and Pamela’s marriage; in “Where There’s Smoke,” Pamela wore hers in a scheme to ruin John Ross and Emma’s affair. Like J.R.’s wristwatch and Candace’s blue dress, it’s another example of how costumes play an important role in “Dallas’s” storytelling.

Two more looks in “Where There’s Smoke” caught my eye. Costume designer Rachel Sage Kunin smartly dressed Josh Henderson in another three-piece suit, which helped project John Ross’s sense of confidence when he finally met Judith Ryland. And even though many of us were heartbroken when Christopher shaved off his beard, the loss was eased a bit by seeing Jesse Metcalfe sport that nifty brown varsity jacket. Not only is the jacket stylish — the lettermen look is big in menswear this spring — but what could be a better accessory for all-American Christopher?

Let’s just hope the Ewings know a good dry cleaner; that jacket is going to be full of soot come August.

What were your favorite looks in “Where There’s Smoke”? Share your thoughts in the comments section below and read more “Dallas Styles.”

The Ewings weren’t dressed to the nines in “Denial, Anger, Acceptance,” but that doesn’t mean their clothing should be overlooked. We can learn a lot about the characters, even when they aren’t runway ready.

Consider the brown coat Brenda Strong wears when Ann arrives at the hospital and lies to Bobby about her whereabouts earlier in the evening, telling him she was grocery shopping when the Southfork fire began. The cloak-like coat, which ties at Ann’s waist, conceals most of her body — a fitting choice for a character who is covering up her secret smooch with ex-husband Harris. Later, after Judith spills the beans to Bobby and he erupts at his wife (yet again), Ann is seen wearing a sweater with a wide neckline — an ideal way to symbolize how exposed and vulnerable she feels.

I also like the waffle-knit robe Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) wears during her visit to the hospital gift shop. The robe, which bears the hospital’s name (“Forest Park Medical Center”), reminds me of the kind of thing you might find hanging in a nicer hotel room closet — which seems entirely appropriate for Sue Ellen. You don’t expect her to give up her appreciation for the finer things in life just because she’s sick, do you?

Costume designer Rachel Sage Kunin and her team also deserve praise for making the blue shirt Bobby wears at the beginning of this episode look so convincingly distressed. Notice how the soot is concentrated around the neckline, the only area that would have been exposed by his jacket when he dashed into the fire to rescue his family. This is probably the most memorable look of all in this episode, which — let’s face it — doesn’t happen often with Patrick Duffy’s blue-jeans-and-boots character.

Even the folks at TNT had fun with Duffy’s costume, tweeting the following tidbit earlier today: “Fun fact: The scorch marks on Bobby’s shirt aren’t from the fire, they’re from Judith’s withering glare.”

At least she didn’t turn him to stone.

What were your favorite looks in “Denial, Anger, Acceptance”? Share your thoughts in the comments section below and read more “Dallas Styles.”